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THE  HOME  MISSION  STATESMAN 


He  had  understanding  of  the  times, 
to  know  what  Israel  ought  to  do." 
-1  Chron.  12;  32. 


J.  S.  DILL,  D.D. 


PRICE,  POSTPAID, 
CLOTH.  50  CIS.;   PAPER.  25  CTS. 


SUNDAY    SCHOCL    B«ARD 

SOUTHERN    BAPTIST    CONVENTIBN 

NASHVILLE,    TENNESSEE 


ISSUED  UNDER 

THE 


MATTHEW  T.   YATES 
PUBLISHING  FUND. 


GIVEN      B> 


THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  BOARD. 
DECEMBER,    1897. 


BOOK   NUMBER  THREE. 


COPYRIGHT    1908 

SUNDAY  SCHOOL  BOARD  SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  CONVENTION 

NASHVILLE.  TENN, 


TO 

my  H)tfe 

KATE  TICHENOR  DILL 

THE  INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BEST  THERE  IS 


IN  NY  LIFE 
SINCE  JULY  6.  188: 


A  WORD  FROM  THE  PUBLISHERS 


This  book  is  published  in  the  interest  of  Home 
Missions,  and  as  a  direct  contribution  to  the  Home 
Mission  Board  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention. 
It  illustrates  in  a  striking  way  some  phases  of  that 
work,  and  at  the  same  time  furnishes  a  biographical 
sketch  of  the  life  and  labors  of  one  who  through  so 
many  years  held  high  rank  among  his  brethren,  and 
served  as  Home  Mission  Secretary  with  distinction 
and  honor  and  efficiency.  There  is  fitness  in  issuing 
this  book  under  the  Matthew  T.  Yates  Publishing 
Fund.  It  brings  together  that  great  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary and  this  Home  Mission  Statesman,  serving 
to  illustrate  the  Unity  of  Missions  and  the  Oneness 
of  those  who  v/ork  on  the  home  field  with  those  who 
work  on  the  foreign  field. 

Nashville,  Tenn.^  March,  1908. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  Childhood  and  Young  Manhood 9 

II.  His  Services  as  Pastor  and  Preacher.  .  18 

III.  President  of  the  Technological  Col- 
lege OF  Alabama 31 

IV.  An  Incident  of  Immense  Moment  in 

the  History  of  American  Baptists  35 

V.  Becomes  Corresponding  Secretary  of 

THE  Home  Mission  Board 50 

(1)  As  to  Our  Western  rrontier...  51 

(2)  Our   Sunday   School   Periodical 

Literature    55 

(3)  Our  Mountain  Problems  Gl 

(4)  Other  Phases  of  the  Work 64 

VI.  The  Closing  Years   70 

VII.  His  Home  Life   77 

VIII.  Products  of  His  Pen  88 

(1)  Fast  Day  Sermon  Before  Ala- 

bama General  Assembly,  18G3  88 

(2)  Our    Country's    Resources    and 

Opportunities    109 

(3)  The  Land  of  the  Sky 133 

(4)  Uncle  Ben's  Golden  Wedding..  139 

(5)  Jesse  Goldthwaite — A  Christian 

Slave   151 

(6)  Joseph  Islands — Apostle  of  the 

Creek  Indians  159 


iLLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

The  Old  Kentucky  Home Frontispiece 

The  Father  and  Mother  11 

The  Pastor  and  His  Church 21 

Portrait  of  De.  Tichenor  50 

The  Victory  Vase  of  Honor  71 

Uncle  Ben  and  Aunt  Jennie 139 


POREWORD 


This  sketch  of  the  Life  of  Isaac  Taylor 
TicHENOR  was  prepared  by  the  request  of 
the  Kentucky  Baptist  Historical  Society,  and 
read  at  its  annual  meeting  at  Mayfield,  Ky., 
June  25,  1907.  The  appreciation  expressed 
on  that  occasion  has  encouraged  the  author 
to  give  it  this  permanent  form,  and  it  is  now 
published  under  the  patronage  of  that  Society.. 
To  the  sketch  of  his  life  we  are  fortunate 
in  being  able  to  add  some  specimens  of  his 
work  well  worth  preserving,  and  which  at 
the  same  time  will  illustrate  the  character 
of  the  man  and  give  us  phases  of  Home  Mis- 
sion work  in  the  South. 

Dr.  Tichenor  was  twenty  years  old  when 
the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  was  organ- 
ized, and  his  life  belongs  to  that  generation 
of  our  Baptist  Fathers  whose  hands  so  skill- 
fully formed  and  guided  those  institutions  in 
our  Southern  Zion  which  we  now  hold  most 
dear.     The  historical  materials  which  relate 


8  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICIIENOR 

to  the  men  and  measures  of  that  period  will 
become  increasingly  interesting  and  valuable. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  biography  will  not  only 
find  sympathetic  appreciation  at  the  hands  of 
those  who  knew  and  loved  I.  T.  Tichenor, 
but  will  not  be  without  value  in  the  final 
writing  of  the  history  of  the  great  formative 
period  among  Southern  Baptists. 
Baptist  Paesonage,  BoicUng  Green,  Ky. 


ISAAC  TAYLOR  TICHENOR 

THE  HOME  MISSION  STATESMAN 


CHAPTER   I. 

CHILDHOOD  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD. 

mF  in  this  democratic  country  genealogi- 
cal tables  count  for  anything,  then  the 
name  of  Isaac  Taylor  Tichenor  is 
an  honorable  one.  jMartin  Tichenor, 
who  tradition  tells  us  was  of  French  extrac- 
tion, was  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  New 
England.  The  record  shows  that  in  1644  he 
took  the  oath  of  allegiance  at  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  but  soon,  under  the  leadership 
of  Robert  Treat,  helped  to  form  the  first  set- 
tlement at  Newark,  New  Jersey.  Now  it 
happened  that  Ebenezer  Byram,  scion  of  a 
worthy  Connecticut  family,  had  settled  in 
Morris  County,  New  Jersey,  and  that  his  son, 
Ebenezer,  took  in  marriage  Abagail  Alden, 
fifth  generation  from  John  Alden  and  Pris- 
cilla,  and  to  them  were  born  sons  and 
daughters.     In  the   meantime,  Joseph  Tich- 


10  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

enor,  grandson  of  jMartin  Tichenor,  had  also 
settled  in  Morris  County,  and  there  was  born 
unto  him  in  1742  a  son  named  Daniel.  Now 
this  Daniel  had  in  him  an  excellent  spirit, 
and  was  wise  above  his  fellows;  so  it  came 
to  pass  that  he  took  unto  him  to  wife  Anna 
Byram,  and  straightway  emigrated  to  the 
State  of  Kentucky.  This  event  occurred  in 
1790,  so  that  when  Kentucky  was  admitted 
as  a  State  in  1792,  Daniel  Tichenor  was 
among  its  citizens.  His  first  purchase  of  lands 
in  Kentucky  was  on  the  Green  River,  but  in 
this  he  was  disappointed,  as  it  was  still  a 
wilderness  into  which  he  could  not  carry  his 
family.  In  1795  he  accordingly  purchased 
three  hundred  acres  of  land  on  Plum  Run,  in 
Nelson  County,  and  there  resided  until  his 
death.  In  that  early  time  of  settlement, 
Daniel  Tichenor  made  a  liberal  contribution 
to  the  growth  of  Kentucky.  He  obeyed  the 
Scripture  command  to  multiply  and  replenish 
the  earth,  for  to  him  were  born  eight  sons  and 
six  daughters.  James,  the  youngest  son  of 
this  Daniel  Tichenor,  was  married  to  Margaret 
Bennett,  descendant  of  the  Virginia  Bennetts. 
It  was  under  the  roof  of  James  Tichenor,  in 
Spencer  County,  where  sturdy  New  England 
blood  mingled  with  the  choice  graces  of  Vir- 
ginia womanhood,  that  on  the  eleventh  day 


JAMES  AND  MARGARET  TICHENOR, 
PARENTS  OF  I.  T.  TiCHENOR. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  11 

of  November,  in  the  year  1825,  Isaac  Taylor 
Tichenor  was  born. 

When  Isaac  was  four  years  old  he  was  sent 
to  school.  He  tells  us  that  his  first  distinct 
recollection  of  life  was  an  incident  at  school. 
As  a  child  he  made  his  first  speech  in  that 
little  primitive  schoolroom.  It  was  copied 
from  Peter  Parley,  and  was  as  follows: 

"This  world  is  round  and  like  a  ball 

Seen  swinging  in  the  air, 
The  sky  extends  around  it  all, 

And  stars  are  shining  there. 
Water  and  land  upon  the  face 

Of  this  great  globe  we  see, 
The  land  is  man's  safe  dwelling  place, 

And  ships  sail  on  the  sea." 

This  simple  recitation  was  prophetic  of  a 
mind  that,  in  the  maturity  of  its  faculties, 
reveled  as  few  others  in  the  great  things  of 
God  in  land  and  sea  and  air. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  the  High 
School  at  Taylorsville.  Here  he  had  good 
training  under  two  excellent  teachers,  Moses 
and  David  Burbank,  graduates  of  Waterville 
College,  in  the  State  of  Maine.  He  secured 
a  good  course  in  mathematics  as  high  as 
trigonometry,  and  in  Latin  read  Sallust  and 
Virgil.  Plere,  too,  he  laid  a  good  foundation 
in  rhetoric  and  logic,  and  could  have  entered 


12  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

the  junior  class  in  college.  In  the  second  year 
of  his  high  school  course  he  had  a  severe  ill- 
ness. In  this  attack  of  measles,  cold  settled 
in  the  glands  of  his  throat  and  affected  his 
vocal  organs  for  life.  His  physician,  who 
might  have  descended  from  one  of  Job's  com- 
forters, assured  him  that  he  need  not  be  dis- 
turbed about  his  throat,  as  he  would  soon  die 
of  consumption.  His  health  was  at  the  time 
too  much  impaired  and  his  constitution  weak- 
ened for  him  to  go  to  college,  so  at  the  age 
of  nineteen  we  find  him  teaching  a  neighbor- 
hood school.  This  gained  for  him  universal 
praise,  and  the  next  year  he  became  assistant 
to  Davis  Burbank  in  the  Taylorsville  Academy. 
He  taught  in  this  school  three  years,  and  the 
last  year  was  its  principal. 

Young  Tichenor  professed  conversion  at 
the  age  of  eleven,  but  was  held  back  from 
church  membership  until  in  his  thirteenth  year, 
at  which  time  he  was  baptized  by  Elder 
William  Vaughn  into  the  fellowship  of  Bloom- 
field  Church.  It  has  come  down  to  us  that 
William  Vaughn  was  much  discouraged  by 
the  fruitage  of  his  ministry  that  year,  for  he 
had  only  baptized  Isaac  Tichenor  and  a  very 
fleshy  young  woman  who  weighed  over  three 
hundred  pounds.  Her  name  was  Nancy 
Pulliam,  and  her  unusual  size  attracted  to  the 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  13 

scene  a  great  concourse  of  people.  But  little 
attention  was  given  to  the  baptism  of  the 
small  boy. 

Moses  Burbank  was  a  Baptist  who  had  his 
heart  set  on  the  development  of  the  religious 
life  of  his  pupils.  He  taught  school  in  the 
Baptist  meeting-house.  A  protracted  meeting 
was  in  progress  and  he  told  the  boys  to  finish 
studying  and  they  would  hold  a  prayer-meet- 
ing before  the  congregation  assembled.  He 
called  on  Isaac  Tichenor  to  pray,  but  was 
refused.  After  the  congregation  had  assem- 
bled and  they  had  sung  the  opening  hymn, 
he  again  called  on  Tichenor  to  pray.  This 
time  he  responded  and  offered  his  first  public 
prayer. 

While  teaching  with  Davis  Burbank  at  the 
Academy,  on  one  Saturday  morning  when  the 
church  was  about  to  convene  for  a  business 
meeting,  one  of  his  young  friends  told  him 
that  the  pastor,  Uncle  Billy  Stout,  wanted  to 
see  him.  When  he  reported  to  the  pastor  he 
was  greatly  surprised  to  find  that  Uncle  Billy 
wanted  him.  to  preach  for  him  that  morning. 
This  he  refused.  The  pastor  seemed  hurt,  so 
when  others  joined  in  urging  him,  he  finally 
consented.  He  spoke  for  twenty-five  minutes 
from  the  words,  "Search  the  Scriptures." 
After  the  sermon  the   pastor   proposed   that 


14  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

the  young  brother  be  Hcensed  to  preach. 
Under  the  protest  of  the  young  man,  the 
motion  was  unanimously  passed.  The  next 
thing  he  knew  Uncle  Billy  had  arranged  an 
appointment  for  him  to  preach  at  Plum  Creek 
Church,  ten  miles  off.  He  yielded  to  the  per- 
suasion of  his  sister,  and  on  this  occasion 
preached  his  first  prepared  serm.on  from  the 
text,  "How  long  halt  ye  between  two  opin- 
ions?" What  effect  the  sermon  had  on  his 
congregation  we  do  not  know,  but  from  this 
time  on  he  no  longer  halted  as  to  his  duty  to 
preach  the  gospel,  for  we  find  that  during  that 
summer  he  is  in  frequent  demand  among  the 
churches,  and  responds  with  such  fervor,  as  to 
gain  the  title  of  the  boy  orator  of  Kentucky. 
The  first  overture  to  give  him  a  settled 
pastorate  came  from  the  East  Baptist  Church 
of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  This  he  declined  on 
account  of  frail  health  and  instead  accepted 
an  appointment  from  the  Indian  Mission 
Association  of  Louisville  to  represent  them 
in  Mississippi.  William  C.  Buck  was  then 
president  of  the  Association,  and  Sidney  Dyer 
its  corresponding  secretary.  He  took  up  this 
work  in  the  hope  that  the  Southern  climate 
would  be  more  friendly  to  his  health,  and 
accordingly  in  the  fail  of  1847  he  made  his 
way  on  horseback  from  Kentucky  to  Missis- 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  15 

sippi.  He  went  by  way  of  Nashville  and  there 
attended  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Indian 
Mission  Association.  Here  he  first  met  J.  R. 
Graves,  and  was  also  profoundly  impressed 
with  a  great  speech  he  heard  from  Joseph 
Islands,  the  Apostle  of  the  Indians.  This 
Joseph  Islands  v;as  a  full-blooded  Creek 
Indian,  with  rugged  eloquence  and  a  marvel- 
ous experience  of  God's  grace.  The  thrilling 
romance  of  his  life  is  too  sacred  a  story  to  be 
lost  to  our  Baptist  history.  To  the  end  of 
his  life  Dr.  Tichenor  was  fond  of  telling  of 
the  time  he  saw  and  heard  this  remarkable 
man.  We  are  glad  to  preserve  in  this  volume 
his  full  and  beautiful  account  of  the  story  of 
"Joseph  Islands,  the  Apostle  of  the  Indians." 
It  is  a  part  of  Home  Mission  history. 

Pursuing  his  Vv^ay  through  West  Tennessee 
he  stopped  for  the  Sabbath  at  Denmark,  and 
there  preached  two  sermons.  At  the  close  of 
the  service  a  woman  asked  who  that  boy  was, 
and  then  exclaimed:  "I  had  rather  be  that 
boy  than  to  be  Jeems  K.  Polk,  President  of 
the  United  States." 

November  finds  young  Tichenor  in  attend- 
ance on  the  Mississippi  Baptist  Convention  at 
Hernando.  Thursday  was  the  night  for  the 
discussion  of  Indian  Missions.  It  came  to  his 
ears  that  the  committee  on  order  of  business 


16  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

had  grave  hesitation  as  to  whether  to  place 
one  so  young  on  the  program.  But  they 
decided  that  courtesy  to  the  Association  he 
represented  required  that  he  be  recognized. 
They  therefore,  in  order  to  run  no  risk,  sand- 
wiched him  in  between  two  other  speakers. 
This  put  the  young  orator  upon  his  mettle, 
and  like  a  true  Kentucky  thoroughbred,  he 
did  his  best.  He  so  far  surpassed  the  other 
speakers  that  his  address  became  the  talk  of  the 
Convention.  This  success  gave  him  an  open 
door  into  the  churches  of  Mississippi  for  the 
presentation  of  the  mission  cause  he  repre- 
sented. 

The  American  Indian  Mission  Association, 
of  which  young  Tichenor  was  now  the  agent, 
was  organized  in  1843,  ^^^  ^'^^  its  work  among 
the  Choctaw  and  Creek  nations.  Afterwards 
this  organization,  through  its  board  at  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  transferred  all  its  mission 
work  to  the  Domestic  Board  of  the  Southern 
Baptist  Convention.  This  transaction  occurred 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Convention  in  1855  at 
Montgomery,  Alabam^a,  while  Dr.  Tichenor 
was  pastor  of  that  church.  It  then  assumed 
the  name  of  Domestic  and  Indian  Mission 
Board.  Few  of  us  now  realize  the  importance 
of  the  work  among  the  Indians  in  those  earlier 
days.     Larger  problems  now  fill  our  horizon, 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  17 

and  the  Indian  is  pressed  into  the  background. 
The  word  Indian  is  now  dropped  from  the 
name  of  our  Board,  and  it  is  simpUfied  to  the 
Home  Mission  Board.  This  change  came 
in  1874.  It  is  not  without  significance  that 
the  first  service  Dr.  Tichenor  rendered  his 
denomination,  when  he  was  yet  little  more  than 
a  lad,  afterwards  became  a  part  of  the  work 
of  the  great  Board  to  which  he  gave  the  last 
and  longest  segment  of  his  life. 
2 


18  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 


CHAPTER  II. 

DR.  TiCHENOR  IN  THE  PASTORAL  SERVICE. 

FTER  six  weeks  of  travel  in  Mississippi 
he  came  to  the  city  of  Columbus  to 
present  the  cause  of  Indian  Missions. 
Here  he  was  detained  by  the  heavy 
rains  of  the  season,  and  as  the  church  was 
without  a  pastor,  he  was  invited  to  supply 
the  pulpit  for  two  Sundays.  It  was  then 
urged  upon  him  that,  as  he  could  not  do  effect- 
ive agency  work  during  midwinter,  he  tarry 
with  the  church  and  supply  until  spring. 
Though  hesitating  on  account  of  his  inexperi- 
ence and  the  fact  that  this  was  one  of  the  most 
important  pulpits  in  the  State,  he  finally  con- 
sented. His  success  was  such  that  with  the 
coming  of  spring  he  was  unanimously  elected 
as  permanent  pastor.  Here,  in  the  year  1848, 
he  was  ordained  to  the  full  work  of  the 
ministry. 

The  Columbus  Church  had  for  several  years 
been  split  by  factions,  and  the  young  pastor 
soon  found  that  he  was  not  sailing  upon  quiet 
waters.    But  this  breach  was  soon  healed,  for 


THE  HOME   MISSION   STATESMAN  19 

one  day  the  pastor  preached  a  sermon  of  such 
power  that  at  its  close  those  who  had  been  so 
bitterly  estranged  fell  weeping  upon  each 
others  shoulders.  Tichenor  was  then  frail  and 
thin,  and  weighed  only  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds,  and  it  was  at  this  juncture, 
when  all  were  rejoicing,  that  iMiss  Maria 
Morse,  a  maiden  lady  who  had  been  praying 
for  the  peace  of  Zion,  threw  her  arms  around 
the  astonished  pastor  and  exclaimed:  ''God 
hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  this  world  to 
confound  the  mighty." 

In  company  with  Deacon  jMullins  of  Colum- 
bus, Tichenor,  in  1849,  attended  the  session  of 
the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  at  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina.  It  was  the  third  session 
of  the  body,  and  it  was  to  him  a  memorable 
trip  and  a  great  experience.  From  Rome  to 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  he  had  his  first  experience 
in  railroad  travel.  He  spent  a  few  days  in 
Augusta,  preaching  there  on  Sunday.  At  the 
Convention  he  came  into  a  congenial  fellow- 
ship of  kindred  spirits,  and  formed  ties  with 
true  yoke-fellows  in  the  service  of  God.  Here 
for  the  first  time  he  met  three  other  young 
men,  W.  T.  Brantley,  Jr.,  Basil  Manly,  Jr., 
and  James  P.  Boyce.  Here  too  he  caught 
inspiration  from  such  men  as  J.  L.  Dagg, 
Basil  Manly,  Sr.,  and  J.  B.  Jeter.     At  this 


20  ISAAC  TAVLOR  TICHENOR 

Convention  Tichenor  was  appointed  to  preach 
on  Sunday  afternoon.  There  was  a  large  con- 
gregation, including  many  delegates.  He 
preached  from  the  text,  "If  that  which  was 
done  away  was  glorious,  how  much  more  that 
which  remaineth  is  glorious."  The  sermon 
established  his  reputation  in  the  Convention. 
He  was  then  in  his  twenty-fourth  year. 

In  attendance  upon  the  Mississippi  State 
Convention  in  the  fall  of  1849,  Tichenor  was 
made  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Temper- 
ance. It  was  at  the  time  when  the  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  "Sons  of  Temperance"  was 
at  its  height.  In  his  report  he  took  the  ground 
that  the  Church  ought  to  be  the  strongest  and 
best  temperance  society  in  the  world.  This 
precipitated  in  the  Convention  a  great  discus- 
sion, and  in  view  of  the  aggressive  temperance 
reforms  of  the  present  day  is  well  worth 
recording.  The  position  taken  by  the  report 
w^as  in  advance  of  the  thought  of  the  day  on 
that  subject. 

In  the  spring  of  1850  Tichenor  resigned  the 
pastorate  at  Columbus.  He  made  a  trip  to  the 
coast  of  Texas,  and  held  protracted  meetings 
at  Houston  and  Galveston.  He  then  returned 
to  his  Kentucky  home  for  the  summer,  and 
was  persuaded  to  accept  a  call  extended  him 
to    the    pastorate    at    Henderson,    Kentucky. 


THE   PASTOR   AND   HIS   CHURCH,  MONTGOMERY,  ALA. 
1852-1868. 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  21 

While  at  Henderson  he  committed  the  usual 
youthful  indiscretion  of  trying  to  keep  a  diary. 
His  enthusiasm  for  recording  his  daily 
thoughts  and  doings  all  went  to  pieces  in  the 
brief  space  of  sixty  days.  This  record,  pre- 
served in  his  family,  serves  only  to  give  us 
a  flashlight  into  the  inner  spiritual  life  of  the 
growing  young  pastor.  It  reveals  a  longing 
of  soul  for  the  doing  of  the  highest  and  best 
things  for  his  Master,  which  the  after  years 
will  not  disappoint.  The  half  dozen  sermons 
also  written  out  in  full  in  the  same  blank  book 
with  his  diary,  give  ample  promise  of  the 
mature  service  which  enriched  the  people  to 
whom  he  ministered.  The  Henderson  pastor- 
ate only  lasted  a  little  over  a  year,  for  the 
return  of  his  throat  trouble  again  warned  him 
that  he  must  seek  a  more  Southern  climate. 

In  December  of  1851  Dr.  Tichenor  was 
called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Montgomery,  Alabama,  and  entered 
upon  this  work  the  first  of  January,  1852.  It 
was  then  the  only  Baptist  church  in  that  city, 
and  could  not  claim  more  than  one  hundred 
and  forty-five  members.  But  there  was  ster- 
ling quality  in  this  membership,  which  was 
composed  of  some  of  the  strongest  and  most 
influential  families  in  the  capital  city  of  Ala- 
bama.   In  the  leadership  of  this  vigorous  body 


22  ISAAC   TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

he  spent  sixteen  years  of  consecrated  service. 
It  was  not  an  uninterrupted  service,  for  it 
included  the  disastrous  times  of  civil  war. 
Two  of  these  years  he  spent  in  active  service 
as  an  army  chaplain  with  the  Seventeenth  Ala- 
bama Regiment,  and  during  that  time  Dr. 
Basil  Manly,  Sr.,  served  the  church  at  Mont- 
gomery. This  period,  closing  with  the  year 
1868,  represents  Dr.  Tichenor's  great  service 
as  a  pastor.  The  church  grew  under  his 
administration.  It  was  during  the  first  part 
of  his  pastorate  that  the  commodious  meeting- 
house that  has  served  a  large  and  growing 
congregation  for  over  fifty  years  was  built. 
A  new  and  miodern  temple  of  worship  will 
soon  be  dedicated  to  take  its  place.  Many 
revival  seasons  blessed  his  ministry,  and  while 
sending  out  two  colonies  to  form  new  churches, 
the  mother  church  became  one  of  the  strongest 
organizations  within  the  bounds  of  the  South- 
ern Baptist  Convention.  There  still  live,  lin- 
gering on  this  side  of  the  river,  a  few  aged 
saints  to  testify  to  Dr.  Tichenor's  effective 
pastoral  service.  A  letter  from  one  of  these, 
Mrs.  John  Stratford,  still  a  resident  of  the  old 
Capital  City,  is  replete  with  affectionate 
remembrance  of  the  great  preacher,  the  tender 
pastor,  and  the  devoted  friend. 

As  pastor  Dr.  Tichenor  was  always  loyal 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  23 

to  the  organized  v/ork  of  his  denomination. 
Through  the  Foreign  Mission  Board,  the 
Alabama  Association,  of  which  the  ]\Iontgom- 
ery  Church  was  an  important  part,  had  sent 
as  a  special  missionary  to  Africa,  Rev.  J.  H. 
Priest  and  wife.  Priest  had  trouble  v/ith  the 
Board,  and  returning  home,  tried  to  get  the 
Association  to  support  him  independently  of 
the  Board.  This  was  refused.  Dr.  Tichenor 
taking  the  leading  part  in  advocating  loyalty 
to  the  Board. 

In  i860,  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war,  and  when  in  his  thirty-fifth  year, 
Dr.  Tichenor  was  a  conspicuous  figure  among 
the  Baptists  of  the  South.  The  Southern  Bap- 
tist Seminary  was  then  completing  its  first 
session,  and  Tichenor  was  invited  to  deliver 
its  first  baccalaureate  sermon.  This  service  he 
rendered  by  preaching  from  the  text,  "Who 
is  sufficient  for  these  things."  Dr.  J.  Wm. 
Jones,  then  a  student  of  the  Seminary,  still 
recalls  the  occasion  with  great  pleasure. 

Dr.  Tichenor  was  a  great  student  of  Bible 
prophesy.  From  Joel  to  John  of  Patmos  he 
loved  to  climb  the  mountain  peaks  with  God's 
prophets,  and  look  forward  with  them  to  the 
coming  of  God's  Kingdom  on  earth.  Much 
of  his  preaching  was  drawn  from  the  pro- 
phetic   books,    and    his    studies    in    this    line 


24  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

culminated  in  a  remarkable  series  of  sermons 
from  the  Book  of  Revelation.  These  were 
preached  in  his  pulpit  soon  after  the  war, 
attracting  wide  notice  and  creating  a  profound 
impression. 

Unctions,  is  the  word  which  to  my  mind 
most  nearly  describes  his  preaching.  Through 
the  intellect  he  appealed  to  the  heart  and 
stirred  the  emotions.  There  was  often  a  melt- 
ing tenderness  that  made  men  weep,  yet  he 
seldom  told  a  pathetic  story.  He  could  mar- 
shal his  facts,  drive  his  argument,  or  paint  a 
picture  as  few  men  could  do.  Rhetorically, 
his  power  of  description  was  his  greatest  gift. 
Especially  could  he  make  a  Scripture  narrative 
live  in  the  mind.  Who  that  ever  heard  him 
could  forget  his  delineation  of  the  unjust  judge 
and  the  widow  that  cried,  '''Avenge  me  of  mine 
adversary"?  He  was  a  great  student  of  na- 
ture, and  with  a  master  power  drew  his  illus- 
trations from  her  marvelous  book.  From  the 
book  of  nature  he  gathered  the  garlands  with 
which  to  adorn  the  truth  he  brought  forth 
from  the  greater  book  of  God's  revelation. 
During  the  period  of  his  pastoral  life,  Dr. 
J.  B.  Hawthorne  had  frequent  opportunities 
to  hear  him.  preach.  We  will  let  him  describe 
Tichenor's  pulpit  power  when  he  was  at  his 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  25 

best.    We  quote  from  his  Tichenor  Memorial 
address  at  Savannah  in  1903. 

"Those  who  never  heard  Dr.  Tichenor  be- 
fore his  voice  v/as  impaired  by  bronchial  trou- 
bles, can  scarcely  conceive  of  its  original 
flexibility,  compass,  clearness,  strength,  and 
sweetness.  It  was  remarkable  for  its  range 
and  variety  of  tones.  When  he  was  rallying 
his  congregation  to  the  support  of  some  good 
cause,  or  proclainiing  some  notable  victory  for 
truth  and  righteousness,  it  was  like  the  blast 
of  a  brazen  trumpet ;  but  when  lamenting  mis- 
fortune or  commiserating  suffering,  it  was  as 
tender  and  as  plaintive  as  the  notes  of  a 
funeral  chant.  No  less  a  man  than  W.  L. 
Yancey  declared  that  he  was  one  of  the  most 
instructive,  impressive,  and  irresistible  of  liv- 
ing preachers.  His  sermons  were  topical.  His 
analysis  was  brief  and  simple.  He  gave  little 
attention  to  modern  text-books  on  homiletics, 
but  was  a  careful  student  of  rhetoric.  He 
understood  the  'art  of  discourse/  In  con- 
structing his  sermons  and  addresses,  he 
adhered  to  the  Grecian  method.  In  each  one 
there  was  a  series  of  climaxes.  From  the 
opening  to  the  close  there  was  steady  growth 
in  the  character  of  his  thought,  in  the  fervor 
of  his  passion,  and  in  the  beauty  and  bril- 
liancy of  his  diction.  He  rivited  attention 
upon  every  phase  of  his  discussion,  and  when 
he  had  concluded  it  seemed  impossible  to  re- 
sist his  argument.  The  most  conspicuous  ele- 
ments of  his  oratory  were  imagination,  passion, 


26  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

and  action.  His  fancy  was  Miltonic.  His 
creations  were  often  stupendous,  grand,  be- 
wildering, and  overpowering.  At  times  his 
oratory  swept  everything  before  it  like  an 
Alpine  avalanche.'^ 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  Dr.  Tich- 
enor  has  left  to  his  family  and  his  brethren 
but  scant  written  materials  of  either  sermons 
or  addresses.  He  was  essentially  an  extem- 
pore speaker,  and  yet  this  does  not  mean  that 
he  was  careless  in  his  preparation.  His  chil- 
dren tell  us  that  his  study  was  often  littered, 
and  then  the  waste  basket  filled,  with  the 
scraps  of  paper  on  which  he  pencilled.  These 
were  often  the  polishing  of  some  striking 
thought  for  the  Sunday's  sermon,  or  the  care- 
ful storing  away  in  his  mind  of  some  great 
truth,  fitly  clothed  and  ready  to  come  leaping 
forth  at  his  bidding.  In  1863,  when  there  was 
a  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  civil  war,  and  a 
special  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  had  been 
proclaimed  by  President  Davis,  Dr.  Tichenor, 
by  special  invitation  of  the  Legislature  of  Ala- 
bama, preached  a  sermon  before  that  body. 
It  was  a  memorable  sermon,  and  by  order  of 
the  Legislature  was  printed.  We  thus  have 
it  preserved,  and  have  printed  it  in  this  volume 
both  on  account  of  its  historic  value  and  as 
affording  a  good  specimen  of  his  sermonic 
work. 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  27 

In  his  services  as  chaplain  of  the  Seventeenth 
Alabama  Regiment,  composed  in  part  of  men 
from  the  membership  of  his  own  church,  Dr. 
Tichenor  was  not  only  mindful  of  their  spirit- 
ual interests,  but  was  ready  to  take  up  the 
sword  with  them.  His  reputation  as  a  sharp- 
shooter was  well  known  in  his  regiment,  and 
more  than  once  was  put  to  the  test.  He 
belonged  to  the  honorable  class  of  fighting 
chaplains.  At  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  when  his 
regiment  was  wavering  and  panic-stricken 
under  a  severe  enfilading  fire,  he  v»^as  found 
in  the  front  rallying  the  men.  The  following 
letter,  written  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Shiloh,  is  his  own  account  of  the  incident. 
The  letter  is  to  Attorney-General  Thomas  H. 
Watts,  of  Montgomery,  a  member  of  his 
church  and  a  lifelong  friend : 

Camp  Watts,  Near  Cobinth,  April  15, 1862. 

My  Dear  Friend — Enclosed  I  send  you  a  copy  of 
a  petition  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  asking  that  the 
two  flags,  taken  in  the  great  battle  of  Shiloh  by  our 
regiment  may  be  transferred  to  Governor  Shorter, 
to  be  placed  in  the  Capitol  at  Montgomery.  I  feel 
that  I  need  not  ask  you  to  do  all  you  can  to  have 
this  petition  granted. 

During  this  engagement  we  were  under  a  cross 
fire  on  the  left  wing  from  three  directions.  Under 
it  the  boys  wavered.  I  had  been  wounded  and  wae 
sitting  down,  but  seeing  them  waver,  I  sprang  to  my 


28  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

feet — took  off  my  hat — ^waved  it  over  my  head- 
walked  np  and  down  the  line,  and,  they  say, 
"preached  them  a  sermon."  I  reminded  them  that 
it  was  Sunday,  that  at  that  hour  (11 :30  o'clock)  all 
their  home  folks  were  praying  for  them — that  Tom 
Watts  had  told  us  that  he  would  listen  with  an 
eager  ear  to  hear  from  the  17th ;  and  shouting  your 
name  far  over  the  roar  of  battle,  I  called  upon  them 
to  stand  there,  and  die,  if  need  be,  for  their  country. 
The  effect  was  evident.  Every  man  stood  to  his 
post — every  eye  flashed  and  every  heart  beat  high 
with  desperate  resolve  to  conquer  or  die.  They 
piled  that  ground  vv^iih  the  slain. 

Colonel,  I  am  satisfied—more  than  satisfied — 
with  my  labors  as  chaplain  of  the  17th.  I  feel  In 
my  heart  the  consciousness  that  in  no  other  posi- 
tion could  I  have  served  the  cause  of  my  God  and 
my  country  so  well.  I  am  more  than  recompensed 
for  all  my  toils  and  privations. 

Yours  sincerely, 

I.   T.   TiCHENOR. 

Tichenor  was  wounded  in  this  engagement, 
but  little  consolation  did  he  get  from  his  gen- 
eral, vv^ho  reminded  him  that  if  he  had  been 
at  the  rear  attending  to  his  proper  duties  he 
could  not  have  been  hurt. 

Soon  after  the  war  it  happened  that  a  com- 
pany of  Southern  brethren  went  from  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention  to  bear  fraternal 
greetings  to  the  Northern  Anniversaries,  then 
meeting  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  The  subject 
of  the  education  of  the  Negroes  was  before 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  29 

the  body,  and  the  Southern  brethren  invited 
to  speak.  Several  had  spoken,  and  Dr.  J.  L. 
Burrows  had  made  a  strong  speech  defining 
the  Southern  attitude  toward  the  question. 
Things  were  already  waxing  warm  when 
Tichenor  was  introduced.  He  undertook  to 
show  that  taken  from  their  savage  state  and 
brought  into  contact  with  Southern  civiliza- 
tion and  the  true  religion,  to  the  Negro, 
slavery  had  its  compensations.  In  the  midst 
of  his  argument  he  was  greeted  with  a  series 
of  hisses.  Gathering  up  all  his  power,  his 
blue  eyes  flashing  defiance,  he  tersely  repeated 
his  sentiment,  and  exclaimed :  "And  neither 
your  hisses  nor  your  bayonets  can  alter  the 
facts  or  make  me  retract  a  word  I  have 
spoken."  He  then  proceeded  with  his  argu- 
ment, showing  how  the  white  Baptists  of  the 
South  had  given  the  gospel  to  the  slaves. 
Suddenly  the  clear,  shrill  voice  of  a  woman 
called  out  in  answer  from  the  gallery.  Tich- 
enor, welcoming  an  opportunity  to  gracefully 
retire  from  his  dilemma,  bowed  in  the  direc- 
tion from  which  came  the  voice  and  said: 
"My  Southern  gallantry  teaches  me  when  a 
woman  speaks  to  promptly  yield  the  floor." 
With  this  he  bowed  himself  off  the  platform. 
The  next  day  as  he  came  into  the  convention 
hall  many  of  the  Northern  brethren  pressed 


80  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TiCHENOft 

about  him  to  shake  his  hand,  and  he  found 
himself  quite  a  hero  amongst  them. 

After  his  resignation  as  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  of  Montgomery  in  1868,  Dr.  Tichenor 
spent  several  years  on  his  plantation  in  Shelby 
County,  Alabama.  While  here  he  was  en- 
gaged in  more  or  less  of  protracted  meeting 
work.  One  of  these  meetings  was  conducted 
in  1870  at  Marion,  Alabama,  and  as  a  young 
student  at  college  I  recall  with  enthusiasm  his 
wonderful  presentations  of  gospel  truth  to  the 
unsaved.  He  became  pastor  of  the  First  Bap- 
tist Church  of  Memphis,  Tennessee,  in  1871. 
Here  he  remained  but  a  year,  for  in  1872  he 
responded  to  a  call  to  a  different  sphere  of 
service,  and  it  was  never  his  privilege  to  again 
enter  the  pastorate. 


THE    HOME    xMISSION    STATESMAN  31 


CHAPTER  III. 

DR.  TICHENOR  AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  TECHNO- 
LOGICAL COLLEGE  OF  ALABAMA. 

OON  after  the  civil  war,  by  the  sale  of 
certain  government  lands,  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  Colleges  were  estab- 
lished in  the  various  Southern  States. 
For  the  State  of  Alabama  this  school  was 
located  at  Auburn,  in  the  year  1872.  Dr. 
Tichenor  became  its  first  president,  and  gave 
ten  years  of  his  life  to  the  foundation  work 
which  has  established  one  of  the  best  techno- 
logical schools  in  the  South.  This  work  was 
thoroughly  congenial  to  his  tastes,  and  in  it 
he  scored  a  signal  success.  Concerned  as  he 
always  was  for  the  developmient  of  the  mate- 
rial resources  of  his  own  section,  he  was  not 
slow  to  seize  the  opportunity  afforded  by  this 
position.  He  became  a  close  student  of  all  the 
agricultural,  the  mineral,  and  the  manufactur- 
ing conditions  of  the  South.  The  trustees  of 
the  institution  over  which  he  presided  have 
given  ample  testimony  to  the  debt  they  owe 
to  their  first  president,  in  laying  the  broad  and 


82  ISAAC   TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

secure  foundation  on  which  they  have  since 
built.  He  projected  broad  and  Uberal  plans 
for  the  growth  of  a  great  college.  Especially 
did  he  contribute  an  important  part  in  bring- 
ing the  people  of  Alabama  to  realize  some- 
thing of  their  mineral  as  well  as  their  agri- 
cultural resources.  When  at  the  high  tide 
of  his  work  at  Auburn  he  was  recognized  as 
in  the  forefront  of  those  who  had  expert 
knowledge  of  the  hidden  material  resources  of 
his  State,  and  his  educational  addresses  were 
a  part  of  the  seed-sowing  that  has  yielded  to 
the  present  generation  so  rich  a  harvest.  The 
first  time  I  ever  heard  Dr.  Tichenor  in  one 
of  his  great  addresses  was  during  this  period 
of  his  life.  It  lives  in  my  miemory.  I  was 
then  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  for  the  first 
time  a  delegate  to  the  Baptist  State  Convention 
of  Alabama.  The  meeting  was  at  Gadsden. 
Tichenor  spoke  to  the  report  on  State  Mis- 
sions. His  plea  for  a  broad  and  liberal  policy 
in  State  Mission  work  was  based  upon  the 
prophecy  that  Alabama  would  soon  become  a 
great  manufacturing  State.  Great  cities  would 
spring  up  and  the  multitudes  must  have  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Birmingham  was  then 
but  a  straggling  village,  but  he  prophesied  that 
there  were  men  there  present  who  would  live 
to  see  the  day  when  that  section  of  Alabama 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  33 

would  be  a  most  important  factor  in  fixing 
the  price  of  iron  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 
There  were  men  who  heard  him  on  that  occa- 
sion who  called  him  visionary.  Yet  he  and 
they  have  lived  to  see  the  realization  of  his 
dream,  and  the  hands  of  the  Baptists  of  Ala- 
bama are  still  busy  with  the  task  he  on  that 
day  set  before  them. 

It  was  during  his  life  in  Auburn  that  Dr. 
Tichenor  grew  into  the  fullness  of  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  marvelous  material  resources  of 
the  South.  Fev/  men  knew  his  native  section 
so  well,  or  loved  it  more.  Let  me  here  place 
on  record  the  language  of  one  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  range  of  his  knowledge  and 
the  channels  of  his  thought. 

*'With  the  South's  history,  traditions,  man- 
ners, customs,  peculiar  traits,  and  distinctive 
genius,  he  was  familiar.  Its  flora  and  fauna, 
its  soil  and  climatic  conditions,  its  geography, 
its  geology,  its  forests,  its  mines,  its  water 
power,  its  splendid  possibilities,  many  of  which 
were  unknown  to  the  quest  of  commercial 
enterprise,  and  hidden  even  from  scientific 
eyes,  were  grasped  and  appreciated  by  his  keen 
penetration.  He  foresaw  most  of  the  indus- 
trial achievements  of  modern  Southern  en- 
deavor, saluted  them  from  afar,  prayed  for 
their  coming,  and  proclaimed  them  the  accesso- 
ries of  Christ's  Kingdom.     The  South  ever 


34  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

loomed  before  his  vision  as  the  section  of  des- 
tiny in  our  great  republic,  and  as  directly  re- 
lated to  Anglo-Saxon  well-being  the  world 
over."  (Report  of  Home  Mission  Board  to 
the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in  1903.) 

It  was  while  at  Auburn,  also,  that  Dr.  Tich- 
enor  came  into  the  full  richness  of  his  charm- 
ing literary  style.  His  baccalaureate  addresses 
to  his  graduating  classes  were  models  of  choice 
English,  and  yet  full  of  the  most  stimulating 
thought  to  the  young  men  whose  lives  he  was 
seeking  to  impress  for  time  and  eternity.  He 
was  to  his  pupils  as  a  father,  not  only  in  wise 
counsel,  but  often  in  making  provision  from 
his  own  purse  that  they  might  remain  in  col- 
lege. 

While  in  the  pastorate  Dr.  Tichenor  received 
from  Howard  College  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity.  It  was  soon  after  his  retirement 
from  Auburn  that  the  College  there,  in  token  of 
their  appreciation  of  his  service  and  character, 
as  well  as  his  acquaintance  with  all  good  learn- 
ing, bestowed  upon  him  the  honorary  title  of 
Doctor  of  Laws.  This  he  wore  with  honor  to 
the  institution  to  which  he  had  given  a  choice 
decade  of  his  life. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  35 


CHAPTER   IV. 

AN  INCIDENT  OF  IMMENSE  MOMENT  IN  THE  HIS- 
TORY OF  AMERICAN  BAPTISTS. 

mN  the  chronicles  of  Baptist  history,  the 
year  1879  needs  to  be  written  in  large 
letters.  In  Atlanta,  Georgia,  at  the 
Southern  Convention  that  year,  there 
transpired  ai:  incident  of  immense  moment  in 
the  history  of  American  Baptists.  The  con- 
dition of  affairs  leading  up  to  this  year  of  crisis, 
and  the  part  taken  by  Dr.  Tichenor  in  the 
episode  of  that  Convention,  needs  to  be  here 
recorded,  for  it  has  important  bearing  on  the 
subsequent  life  work  of  our  ''Home  Mission 
Statesman." 

We  must  pause  here  long  enough  to  recall 
some  of  the  most  salient  facts  connected  with 
the  making  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion, and  we  cannot  do  this  better  than  by  lib- 
eral quotation  from  the  Historical  Address  by 
Dr.  W.  H.  Whitsitt,  on  the  Fiftieth  Anniver- 
sary of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention, 
delivered  at  its  session  in  Washington,  D.  C, 
in  1895. 


36  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

The  Baptists  of  the  South  having  withdrawn 
their  co-operation  from  the  Baptists  of  the 
North,  immediately  met,  and  at  Augusta,  Ga., 
May  8th,  1845,  organized  the  Southern  Bap- 
tist Convention. 

To  quote  from  Dr.  Whitsitt : 

"When  the  fathers  of  our  Convention  met 
together  to  consult  about  its  constitution,  they 
decided  to  go  back  beyond  the  convulsions  of 
the  year  1826,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  adopt 
the  principles  and  methods  which  had  pre- 
vailed from  the  beginning  in  the  General  Mis- 
sionary Convention.  One  change,  however, 
was  dictated  by  prudence  and  by  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  facts.  Instead  of  establish- 
ing a  Southern  Baptist  Convention  with  a 
single  Board  which  should  have  charge  of 
several  different  departments  of  denomina- 
tional exertion,  it  was  decided  to  establish  two 
co-ordinate  Boards,  each  of  which  should  be 
dependent  upon  the  body  that  had  originated 
them.  These  co-ordinate  Boards,  one  for 
foreign  and  the  other  for  domestic  missions, 
were  but  the  forerunners  of  other  interests." 

To  illustrate  the  character  of  the  Convention 
and  to  show  its  place  and  power  as  a  Baptist 
center  of  co-operation.  Dr.  Whitsitt  enumer- 
ates the  several  bodies  which,  in  addition  to 
the  Home  and  Foreign  Boards,  had  come 
through  the  years  under  its  fostering  care, 
viz.:   The  Bible  Board,  1851,  which  went  out 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  37 

with  the  war ;  the  Theological  Seminary,  1859, 
which  has  come  to  a  mighty  place  among  us; 
the  former  Sunday  School  Board,  1863,  which 
was  discontinued,  1873;  the  Woman's  Alis- 
sionary  Union,  1888,  now  a  vast  power  for 
good;  the  present  Sunday  School  Board,  1891, 
now  the  pride  of  our  people ;  and  the  South- 
ern Baptist  Educational  Conference,  1893. 

To  quote  from  Dr  Whitsitt : 

"The  relations  of  these  different  bodies  to 
the  central  organization  may  not  always  be 
uniform ;  yet  they  are  each  one  in  its  own  way 
dependent  on  the  Convention.  Historical 
development  and  the  training  that  has  been 
received  by  our  people  for  fifty  years  require 
that  every  religious  enterprise  carried  on 
among  white  Baptists  within  the  limits  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention  shall  be  in  one 
or  another  form  auxiliary  to  the  Convention. 
Whatever  may  be  out  of  touch,  and  especially 
out  of  harmony,  with  this  body,  is  liable  to 
meet  Avith  more  or  less  decided  opposition,  and 
to  occasion  more  or  less  of  conflict." 

After  fifteen  years  of  successful  co-operation, 
with  growth  and  enlargement  of  its  plans  and 
enterprises,  the  Convention  came  into  years  of 
poverty  and  peril.  It  was  during  the  last 
years  of  this  period  of  darkness,  that  Dr.  Tich- 
enor  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  congenial  task 
as  President  of  the  College  at  Auburn,  Ala- 


38  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

bama.  But  he  always  loved  his  Baptist  people, 
and  did  not  now  fail  to  keep  in  close  touch  with 
the  things  that  concerned  them.  He  was 
always  present  in  their  deliberative  bodies, 
lending  aid  and  council  in  the  solution  of  the 
problems  growing  out  of  the  changed  social 
and  economic  conditions  that  followed  the 
civil  war.  That  war  had  left  cruel  desolation 
in  its  track.  The  still  more  cruel  decade  of 
armed  reconstruction  had  repressed  the  most 
heroic  efforts  to  rehabilitate  the  Southland. 
These  conditions  vitally  affected  the  Baptist 
churches  of  the  South,  and  the  enterprises 
they  fostered  were  in  sad  straits.  There  were 
hearts  in  Zion  that  cried  out,  "How  long!  O 
God,  how  long !" 

To  quote  Dr.  Whitsitt : 

"To  this  aggregation  of  evils  was  added  the 
remarkable  financial  panic  that  overtook  the 
country  in  the  autumn  of  1873,  whose  results 
were  keenly  felt  almost  by  every  inhabitant  of 
our  section  for  six  or  seven  years.  The  expe- 
rience of  those  long  days  of  torture  and  humil- 
iation are  still  remembered  and  will  haunt 
many  people  as  an  evil  dream  as  long  as  they 
live  in  the  world.  If  the  affairs  of  the  Con- 
vention were  in  a  sorry  plight,  this  was  nothing 
more  than  might  justly  be  said  of  every  oth«r 
business  enterprise." 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  39 

The  evil  eft'ects  of  those  years  of  struggle 
and  peril  were  severest  with  the  Home  ]\Iission 
Board,  leaving  it  shorn  of  its  strength,  crippled 
in  its  usefulness,  and  with  its  very  existence 
uncertain.  To  its  care  had  been  committed 
"the  effects  and  functions"  of  the  defunct 
Sunday  School  Board.  At  the  same  time 
there  was  talk  of  merging  the  Home  Board 
itself  into  the  Foreign  Mission  Board,  because 
of  the  stress  of  the  times. 

To  quote  Dr.  Whitsitt : 

"These  dangerous  intimations  were  defeated, 
but  the  Board  was  not  thereby  restored  to  its 
former  vigor.  Centrifugal  forces  were  every- 
where at  work.  Several  of  the  States  had 
organized  mission  boards  to  care  for  their  own 
territory,  and  honorable  State  Conventions 
deliberately  passed  resolutions  by  which  the 
Domestic  Mission  Board  should  be  excluded 
from  their  boundaries.  These  proposed  to 
take  charge  of  the  entire  work  of  home  mis- 
sions, allowing  the  Convention  to  make  no 
collections  and  to  extend  no  assistance  in  any 
place  where  their  authority  was  respected. 
Still  other  States  had  entered  upon  terms  of  co- 
operation with  rival  organizations  situated  in 
other  sections  of  the  country.  That  was 
notably  true  of  the  district  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  which,  by  one  process  or  another, 
had  all  been  lost  to  the  Domestic  Mission 
Board.      It  had  no  agent,  and  was  rendering 


40  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

no  assistance  in  any  portion  of  that  wide  terri- 
tory. This  process  of  disintegration  was  not 
confined  to  the  trans-Mississippi  department. 
In  some  of  the  States  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
river  brethren  had  turned  away  from  the 
Domestic  Board  and  were  working  in  connec- 
tion with  rival  Societies.  The  outlook  was  as 
gloomy  as  it  well  ^  could  be.  In  addition  to 
the  above,  the  Seminary  was  all  the  while  in 
grave  peril.  .  .  .  They  m.ust  have  been 
comparatively  few  who  had  courage  enough 
in  those  evil  days  to  conceive  any  firm  faith  in 
the  future  of  the  institution.'' 

Such  was  the  situation  in  our  Southern  Zion 
as  our  people  in  those  hours  of  peril  approached 
the  crisis  in  their  affairs.  And  everywhere 
the  Baptists  of  the  South  were  confronted  with 
the  question  as  to  whether  their  separate  organ- 
izations and  enterprises  would  be  maintained. 
This  condition  had  reached  its  crisis  in  the 
year  1879. 

To  quote  Dr.  Whitsitt : 

''Under  all  these  circumstances  it  was  noth- 
ing more  than  one  might  expect,  that  questions 
concerning  the  life  or  death  of  the  Convention 
should  in  due  time  be  raised.  That  issue  was 
brought  forward  and  discussed  at  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  during  the  session  of  the  Convention 
in  1879.  Here  was  indeed  a  ''battle  of  the 
giants."  No  such  momentous  controversy  has 
been  brougfht  before  us  in  the  entire  course  of 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  41 

Our  history.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  first  clay 
an  impressive  preamble  and  a  couple  of  reso- 
lutions were  proposed." 

The  resolutions  were  as  follows : 

Whereas,  The  time  has  come  when  all  who  be- 
lieve in  Jesus  should  work  mightily  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  nation  from  the  bondage  of  sin;  when 
the  voice  of  Divine  Providence  calls  us  to  greater 
sacrifices  and  nobler  efforts  to  secure  the  triumph- 
ant coming  of  his  kingdom  ;   and, 

Whereas,  The  cordial  cooperation  of  the  Baptists 
of  the  United  States  would  tend  greatly  to  promote 
their  efficiency  in  this  grand  work  ;  and, 

Whereas,  The  love  of  Jesus  and  the  wants  of 
dying  men  demand  that,  allowing  "the  dead  past 
to  bury  its  dead,"  we,  leaving  the  things  which  are 
behind,  should  press  forward  to  deliver  the  kindreds 
of  the  earth  from  ignorance  and  vice,  and  bring 
them  into  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  is  able  to 
set  them  free  ;   therefore, 

Resolved,  That  five  brethren  be  appointed  by 
this  Convention  to  bear  to  our  Baptist  brethren  of 
the  Northern  States,  at  their  approaching  anni- 
versaries, expressions  of  our  fraternal  regard  and 
assurances  of  our  readiness  to  cooperate  cordially 
with  them  in  promoting  the  cause  of  Christ  in  our 
own  and  all  foreign  lands. 

Resolved,  That  we  respectfully  suggest  to  them 
the  propriety  of  holding,  at  some  convenient  time 
and  place,  a  meeting  of  representative  men  from 
all  sections  of  our  common  country,  to  devise  and 
propose  such  plans  of  cooperation  between  this 
Convention  and  other  Baptist  bodies  of  the  United 
States  as  may  best  contribute  to  the  more  efficient 


42  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

working  of  the  Baptist  brotherhood,  to  the  good  of 
all  men,  and  to  the  glory  of  our  Redeemer. 

To  quote  Dr.  Whitsitt : 

"This  document  was  expressed  in  diplomatic 
terms,  and  yet  it  was  generally  understood  that 
it  related  mainly  to  the  question  of  ''preserving 
our  separate  organizations."  As  in  the  case 
of  all  issues  of  first-class  importance,  the  busi- 
ness was  referred  to  a  committee  composed  of 
one  from  each  State.  When  it  came  up  for 
discussion  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  May 
lo,  1879,  after  an  address  by  the  Chairman,  it 
was  moved  by  John  A.  Bro:idus,  of  Kentucky, 
to  strike  out  the  two  resolutions,  and  on  that 
proposition  a  debate  was  held  which  lasted 
throughout  the  day.  Shortly  before  adjourn- 
ment in  the  afternoon,  the  motion  of  Dr. 
Broadus  was  carried,  and  an  amended  resolu- 
tion was  substituted  in  the  following  terms : 

"The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the  reso- 
lutions on  cooperation  with  our  Northern  brethren, 
have  had  the  same  under  consideration,  and  instruct 
me  to  report  the  following  resolution : 

^'Resolved,  That  five  brethren  be  appointed  by 
this  Convention  to  bear  to  our  Baptist  brethren  of 
the  Northern  States,  at  their  approaching  anniver- 
saries, expressions  of  our  fraternal  regard,  and 
assurances  that  while  firmly  holding  to  the  wisdom 
and  policy  of  preserving  our  separate  organizations, 
we  are  ready,  as  in  the  past,  to  cooperate  cordially 
with  them  in  promoting  the  cause  of  Christ  in  our 
own  and  foreign  lands." 

"In  this  manner  an  issue  was  quietly  closed 
which  had  threatened  us  with  the  most  serious 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  43 

consequences,  and  there  has  never  been  a 
moment  since  tlie  year  1879  when  it  was  even 
remotely  possible  for  such  a  question  to  be 
again  discussed  before  the  Convention/' 

Thus  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  set- 
tled the  question  of  its  own  existence,  and 
established  itself  as  a  potent  factor  to  influence 
the  future  of  American  Baptists.  The  Baptists 
of  the  South,  with  a  heroism  unsurpassed  by 
any  people  in  the  annals  of  history,  declared 
with  unanimous  voice  for  "the  wisdom  and 
policy  of  preserving  our  separate  organiza- 
tions." This  was  done  in  the  interest  of  their 
own  great  enterprises,  especially  their  Foreign 
Mission  Board,  their  Home  Mission  Board, 
and  their  Theological  Seminary,  as  being 
mighty  agencies  for  meeting  their  own  high 
obligation  and  for  the  furtherance  of  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  at  Home  and  throughout  the 
world. 

The  preamble  and  resolutions  to  which  Dr. 
Whitsitt  referred  and  which  I  have  introduced 
in  full,  were  presented  to  the  Convention  by 
Dr.  Tichenor.  His  address  in  support  of  the 
resolutions  is  remembered  as  one  of  the  great- 
est speeches  of  his  life,  thrillingly  eloquent; 
while  the  reply  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Broadus 
was  a  masterpiece  even  for  that  great  Baptist 
Commoner.      It  was  never  in  the  mind  of  Dr. 


44  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

Tichenor  to  advocate  in  these  resolutions 
"organic  union"  with  the  North;  and  no  one 
ever  questioned  his  integrity  or  his  loyalty  to 
either  the  Convention  itself  or  to  any  of  the 
great  enterprises  which  it  had  in  hand. 

In  the  encroachment  of  other  Baptist  bodies 
upon  the  territory  of  the  Southern  Baptist 
Convention,  he  saw  a  disintegrating  force  and 
realized  that  the  issue  had  to  be  met.  There 
was  need  for  a  clearer  understanding  between 
Northern  and  Southern  Baptists  as  to  the 
rights  of  their  respective  missionary  organiza- 
tions in  certain  definite  sections  of  our  country, 
and  there  should  be  co-operation  instead  of 
antagonism.  The  first  thing  to  do,  was  to  try 
to  settle  the  matters  at  issue  in  a  fraternal  way, 
and  he  therefore  introduced  these  ''diplomatic 
resolutions"  for  a  fraternal  conference.  There 
was  little  hope  that  there  could  be  made  a  sat- 
isfactory agreement  with  Northern  Baptists 
on  the  question  of  boundaries  or  any  other 
matters  that  were  at  issue;  but  if  after  an 
honest  trial  it  failed,  then  Southern  Baptists 
would  have  all  the  stronger  plea  for  an  aggres- 
sive policy  in  securing  their  rights  in  their  own 
territory. 

Remembering  the  chivalric  spirit  of  the  man 
and  his  devotion  to  the  South  and  all  Southern 
interests,    especially   of    the    Baptists    of    the 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  45 

South,  we  do  not  wonder  that,  in  common 
with  his  brethren,  feeUng  the  fearful  stress  of 
the  times  and  disturbed  even  unto  soreness  of 
heart  with  the  constant  agitation  about  co- 
operation with  the  Baptists  of  the  North,  Dr. 
Tichenor  determined  upon  this  course  to  bring 
the  matter  to  a  final  issue.  And  acting  in  all 
frankness,  with  heroic  spirit  and  resolute  pur- 
pose, he  resolved  to  make  the  issue  and  then 
abide  the  consequences  and  stand  loyally  with 
his  brethren  in  whatever  decision  they  should 
give  in  this  great  denominational  tribunal. 

This  at  least  is  what  he  did,  and  no  one 
among  us  wrought  more  valiantly  to  work  out 
the  mission  and  destiny  of  the  Convention. 
And  this  settlement  of  the  issue,  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  opened  the  way  for  the  difficult 
position  to  which  he  v/as  called  by  his  brethren 
three  years  later.  That  position  he  filled  as 
Home  Mission  Statesm.an  for  twenty  years, 
and  as  a  great  leader  among  us  wrought  the 
greatest  service  of  his  life  in  bringing  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention  into  full  posses- 
sion of  its  own. 

Dr.  Whitsitt  did  not  overdraw  the  picture 
of  darkness  and  peril  into  which  our  affairs 
had  come,  and  especially  as  related  to  the  Home 
Mission  Board.  And  yet  over  against  that  as 
a  light  on  a  cloud,  stands  the  remarkable  fact 


46  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

that  throughout  this  same  session  of  the  Con- 
vention (Atlanta,  1879),  ^^^  Home  Mission 
Board,  though  it  had  received  for  that  year 
not  quite  seventeen  thousand  dollars,  all  told, 
was  endorsed  and  commended  in  the  strongest 
and  most  generous  terms,  and  its  work  was 
treated  with  favor  and  distinction.  So  em- 
phatic was  this,  and  so  important  as  marking 
the  transition  of  that  stormy  period,  that  we 
give  in  full  herewith  the  report  of  one  of  the 
several  committees  which  were  charged  with 
reviewing  its  work  for  the  past  and  outlining 
its  need  and  policy  for  the  future. 

From  Minutes  of  Convention,  1879 — Report 
on  Home  Board : 

WOEK    OF    BOAED    IIT   DOMESTIC    DEPABTMENT. 

In  presenting  a  report  your  committee  presume 
that  it  is  unnecessary  to  intimate  lines  of  duty,  or 
offer  instructions  to  the  Board  whose  grand  busi- 
ness it  is  to  conduct  the  missions  needed  in  the 
Home  work,  called  for  by  the  waste  or  destitute 
portions  of  our  Conventional  territory.  But  in  the 
present  attitude  of  our  denominational  affairs,  in 
this  crisis  of  financial  depression,  and  in  the  con- 
fusion of  agencies  to  promote  great  evangelical 
enterprises,  it  may  be  necessary  to  present  some 
suggestions,  as  to  what  the  Home  Mission  Board 
should  be  occupied  in  in  promoting  or  in  stimulating 
our  churches  to  aid  it  in  accomplishing.  Let  it 
then  be  settled  as  a  fixed  matter  in  the  hearts  of 
Southern  Baptists : 

1.  That  the  Home  Mission  Board  is  a  necessity. 
The  w^ork  yet  to  be  done  is  very  great.  The  terri- 
tory for  which  the  Board  was  originally  created  to 


THE   HOME   MISSION    STATESMAN  47 

provide  the  preaching  of  a  pure  gospel  wherever 
destitution  existed,  is  no  less  extensive  at  this  time 
than  in  1845.  The  extension  of  the  railroad  system, 
the  opening  of  new  farming  districts,  the  settle- 
ment and  enlargement  of  new  towns  and  villages, 
demand  continued  efforts  to  sustain  Missions  at  all 
important  points  for  influence.  Varied  forms  of 
error,  new  exhibitions  of  old  errors,  specious  phases 
of  fanciful  theories  of  religion  or  worship,  covert 
atheism,  open  infidelity  and  Romanism,  all  active 
with  aggressive  leaders,  require  on  the  part  of 
Baptists  undying  energy  and  zeal  to  plant  the 
standard  of  the  truth  on  a  vantage  ground  from 
which  it  can  never  be  driven. 

2.  That  there  are  points  in  most  of  the  States, 
which  the  State  Conventions  or  General  Associa- 
tions cannot  effectually  sustain  without  aid  outside 
of  State  organizations.  Among  these  may  be  named 
San  Antonio  and  Corpus  Christi,  in  Texas;  Pine 
Bluff  and  Hot  Springs,  Arkansas,  and  Tallahassee, 
in  Florida.  There  are  doubtless  other  places  in 
other  States  which,  as  our  whole  territory  develops 
and  our  population  increases,  will  also  call  for  the 
attention  and  aid  of  this  Board. 

3.  To  give  unity  to  our  work,  and  to  harmonize 
all  State  organizations  with  our  plans  and  modes 
of  operation  so  as  to  prevent  collision  between 
State  and  General  Secretaries,  it  is  important  that 
there  should  be  a  common  organ  for  communication, 
cooperation,  and  general  aims  for  the  attainment 
of  our  great  mission.  The  Home  Mission  Board  of 
this  Convention  will  probably  have  work  to  do  until 
the  millenium  dawns  in  the  world. 

4.  The  Home  Mission  Board  will  always  be  our 
most  effective  agent  in  collecting,  collating,  publish- 
ing, and  placing  in  enduring  form  the  statistics  of 
all  our  Associations,  District  and  State  Societies 
and  Conventions.  It  can  be  hardly  doubted  that 
our  congregational  form  of  government  will  ever 
make  it  difficult  to  obtain  perfectly  accurate  statis- 
tics, but  this  Board  can  do  more  than  any  other 
organization  in  collecting  and  making  known  our 
true  condition  as  to  our  numbers,  religious  zeal, 
activity,  and  contributions, 


48  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

The  Board  should  be  assured  the  fervent  pray- 
ers, generous  contributions,  and  active  cooperation 
in  every  feasible  method  of  every  church  member 
in  every  church  within  the  bounds  of  the  Conven- 
tion. The  Board  must  have  the  means  to  answer 
with  encouraging  vrords  and  aid  the  calls  now  made 
upon  it  with  intense  earnestness. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

W.  C.  Crane,  Texas. 

J.  F.  B.  Mays,  Tennessee. 

B.  Manly,  Kentucky. 

O.  H.  Chalkley,  Virginia. 

R.  H.  Griffith,  North  Carolina, 

J.  A.  W.  Thomas,  South  Carolina, 

L.  R.  L.  Jennings,  Georgia. 

This  report  expressed  the  sentiment  of  the 
Convention  and  had  the  ring  of  heroic  metal. 
Its  words  are  as  true  now  as  then  in  emphasiz- 
ing the  need  of  this  work  in  the  organic  Hfe  of 
the  denomination.  It  has  on  it  today  the  em- 
phasis of  enlargement  and  may  well  serve  as 
the  appeal  for  still  further  enlargement.  We 
add  a  final  word  from  Dr.  Whitsitt's  address, 
as  follows : 

"The  Home  Mission  Board,  which  had  so 
long  been  in  an  enfeebled  condition,  began  to 
receive  new  favor  after  1879.  In  the  year  1882 
it  was  reconstructed  at  Greenville,  South  Caro- 
lina, and,  under  Dr.  I.  T.  Tichenor,  started 
upon  a  career  of  prosperity  that  has  been  the 
joy  and  the  marvel  of  our  recent  history.  Ex- 
perience has  amply  demonstrated  that  this 
agency  is  necessary  to  the  prosperity  and  effi- 
ciency of  the  Convention.     Therefore  we  may 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  49 

well  rejoice  in  every  influence  that  contributes 
to  strengthen  the  hands  and  to  improve  the 
resources  of  the  Home  Mission  Board." 

With  this  setting  forth  of  the  conditions  of 
that  period,  and  the  settled  purpose  of  South- 
ern Baptists  to  work  out,  under  God,  their 
own  distinct  mission,  we  are  the  better  pre- 
pared to  understand  and  appreciate  the  work 
of  our  "Home  Mission  Statesman"  in  the 
service  which  he  rendered  as  an  official  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention.  For  twenty 
years  he  toiled  at  the  task,  and  to  the  record  of 
it  we  will  now  turn. 
4 


50  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 


CHAPTER  V. 

DR.  TICHENOR  AS  SECRETARY  OF  THE  HOME 

MISSION  BOARD  OP  THE  SOUTHERN 

BAPTIST   CONVENTION. 

*'We  challenge  the  wisdom  of  the  Christian 
world  to  the  proposition  that  the  evangelization  of 
this  country  is,  among  human  affairs,  the  mightiest 
factor  in  the  world's  redemption." — /.  T.  Tichenor. 

mMPORTANT  as  was  the  work  of  I.  T. 
Tichenor  as  president  of  a  technologi- 
cal school  in  Alabama,  it  has  an  added 
meaning  in  his  life  when  we  see  in  it 
also  a  work  of  preparation  for  a  still  greater 
task  to  which  God  and  his  brethren  would 
call  him.  Ten  years  of  academic  life  at  Au- 
burn, engaged  as  he  was  in  the  profound  study 
of  our  Southland,  its  marvelous  resources,  its 
imperative  needs,  and  its  new  and  perplexing 
problems,  was  God's  preparation  of  the  man 
who  was  to  lead  Southern  Baptists  in  the  new 
era  of  our  changed  social  and  industrial  life. 
Thus  it  happened  in  the  providence  of  God 
that  in  the  year  1882,  the  Home  Mission  Board 


c/.  c/^.  /^^^^^^e^^^-f^-i^ 


SECRETARY. 


THE  HOME  MISSION   STATESMAN  51 

of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  was  re- 
moved from  Marion,  Alabama,  to  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  and  I.  T.  Tichenor  was  chosen  as 
its  secretary.  To  this  great  task  he  devoted 
the  full  maturities  of  his  powers,  and  this  last 
segment  of  his  life,  spanning  a  period  of  nearly 
twenty  years,  must  be  recognized  as  his  highest 
contribution  to  the  times  in  which  he  lived. 
It  is  upon  this  part  of  his  life  that  we  need 
to  place  the  greatest  emphasis. 

In  entering  upon  this  work.  Dr.  Tichenor 
conceived  that  it  was  the  function  of  his  Board 
not  only  to  help  weak  churches  here  and  there, 
but  carefully  to  study  the  conditions  of  our 
homeland,  and  to  lead  the  way  in  the  solution 
of  the  great  problems  that  confront  the  Bap- 
tists of  the  South.  Without  entering  into  the 
details  of  the  work,  I  call  attention  to  the  most 
important  lines  of  his  aggressive  leadership. 

I.  As  to  Our  Western  Frontier. — As  the 
new  Secretary  cast  his  eyes  across  the  Missis- 
sippi, he  found  there  his  first  and  most  impor- 
tant problem.  Except  for  its  missionaries 
among  the  Indians,  the  Board  then  had  only 
six  missionaries  west  of  the  great  river.  The 
Home  Mission  Society  of  New  York,  at  that 
time  recognizing  no  territorial  limits,  was 
making  inroads  upon  our  Western  flank. 
With  tempting  donations   to  weak   churches 


S2  Isaac  tavlor  ticmenor 

and  invitations  to  a  permanent  alliance,  that 
society  was  threatening  the  solidarity  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention.  In  the  great 
empire  of  Texas  the  New  York  Society  was 
putting  forth  its  best  effort,  while  our  Board 
had  only  two  missionaries  to  that  whole  do- 
main, and  had  that  year  received  from  the 
whole  of  Texas  the  paltry  sum  of  $207. 
Tichenor  gave  prompt  attention  to  this  con- 
dition. He  traveled  through  the  State  visiting 
churches,  associations,  and  conventions.  He 
at  once  grasped  the  magnitude  and  importance 
of  the  problem  in  its  relation  to  Southern  Bap- 
tists. He  found  a  vast  world  of  destitution, 
but  a  great  empire  of  promise.  He  found 
a  population  largely  Baptist  and  intensely 
Southern.  This  Empire  of  the  Southwest  that 
might  slip  from  our  hands  he  found  easy  to 
hold  in  its  natural  place  in  our  ranks.  They 
would  be  glad  of  the  opportunity.  It  at  once 
became  a  settled  policy  of  his  Board  to  main- 
tain the  natural  solidarity  of  the  Convention 
by  holding  the  great  Southwest  as  its  special 
mission  field. 

As  a  result  the  Secretary  was  able  in  his 
first  report  to  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion to  record  that  his  Board  had  thirty-four 
missionaries  in  Texas,  that  Texas  had  con- 
tributed $2,335  to  Home  Missions,  and  that 


THE    HOME   MISSION    STATESMAN  53 

they  had  formed  a  most  satisfactory  system 
of  co-operation  with  the  Texas  Baptists.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  system  of  co-opera- 
tive w^ork  with  State  Boards  which  has  entered 
largely  into  the  policy  of  the  Home  Board 
ever  since.  In  Tichenor's  second  annual  re- 
port we  find  that  his  Board  has  seventy-eight 
men  at  work  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
fifty-eight  of  these  in  Texas.  The  report  de- 
clares that  "it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the 
rank  Texas  is  taking  among  the  States  that 
support  our  Convention  is  due  in  no  small 
degree  to'  the  work  of  our  Home  Board." 
The  next  year  (1885)  the  emphasis  placed  by 
the  Board  upon  this  field  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Board  then  employed,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-one  were  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  eighty-one  of  these  at  work  in 
Texas.  The  report  of  that  year  in  a  special 
paragraph  on  Texas  as  a  mission  field  closes 
with  these  words :  ''The  success  of  our  work 
there  in  the  years  that  are  past,  as  well  as  at 
the  present  time,  betoken  that  Texas  is  rapidly 
becoming  the  strongest  of  our  Baptist  States. 
In  the  not  distant  future  her  mighty  legions 
will  perform  no  insignificant  part  in  the  con- 
quest of  other  lands  for  Him  whose  right  it  is 
to  reign." 


54  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

In  the  year  1900,  which  closed  Tichenor^s 
administration  as  Secretary,  the  Board  re- 
ported three  hundred  and  forty-six  mission- 
aries west  of  the  great  river.  Today  the  Board 
has  five  hundred  and  seventy-nine  mission- 
aries in  the  great  Southwest,  and  that  vast  and 
growing  country  intensely  loyal  to  the  South- 
ern Baptist  Convention.  This  year  of  our 
Lord  1907,  Texas  has  given  to  Home  Missions 
$37,000,  which  is  twice  as  much  as  all  the 
Southern  States  combined  contributed  to  that 
Board  the  year  before  Tichenor  entered  its 
office.  This  same  Texas  has  this  same  year 
given  to  our  Foreign  Mission  Board  the  sum 
of  $58,000,  which  is  $10,000  more  than  the 
income  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  from 
the  whole  South  the  year  before  he  became 
Secretary. 

I  think  that  no  one  will  doubt  that  this 
present  happy  condition  is  due  in  large  meas- 
ure to  the  wisdom  in  which  Tichenor  handled 
the  problem  at  the  time  of  its  crisis.  If  there 
is  a  section  of  our  Southland  that  honors  the 
name  of  Tichenor  more  than  another,  I  think 
it  is  the  Southwest.  They  believed  in  him  and 
trusted  his  leadership  to  the  fullest.  The  mas- 
ter workmen  who  are  there  today  building 
colossal  enterprises  for  the  hastening  of  God's 
Kingdom  on  earth  will  not  forget  his  memory. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  55 

2.  Oitr  Sunday  School  Periodical  Litera- 
ture,— At  the  time  that  Dr.  Tichenor  entered 
upon  the  Secretaryship,  there  was  in  progress 
a  new  development  in  Sunday-school  methods. 
The  introduction  of  the  International  Series 
of  Lessons  called  for  a  special  graded  series 
of  lesson  helps.  This  demand  was  being 
promptly  met  by  various  publishing  houses. 
The  Home  Board  was  at  the  time  publishing 
its  Sunday-school  paper,  Kind  IVords.  This 
was  a  weekly  paper  with  which  it  had  been 
entrusted  by  the  Convention  when  its  former 
Sunday  School  Board  was  discontinued,  and 
it  was  made  the  function  of  the  Home  Board 
to  also  care  for  the  Sunday-school  interests 
of  the  denomination  in  the  South.  The  Kind 
Words  publication  was  wholly  inadequate  to 
the  new  needs  that  had  arisen  in  Sunday-school 
work.  The  question  before  the  Board  was 
whether  Southern  Baptists  should  leave  the 
supply  of  their  literature  to  Northern  and 
Western  firms,  or  hold  in  their  own  grasp  this 
source  of  power  with  the  churches.  In  the 
face  of  much  opposition.  Dr.  Tichenor  was 
from  the  very  beginning  clear,  positive,  and 
aggressive  in  holding  that  the  only  wise  policy 
was  for  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  to 
publish  its  own  Sunday-school  literature. 
With  his  usual  foresight  he  appreciated  the 


56  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

power  of  a  people's  making  their  own  litera- 
ture. He  especially  saw  its  molding  influence 
upon  the  lives  of  each  new  generation  of  our 
young  people,  and  he  wrought  out  the  plan 
of  a  full  line  of  Sunday-school  lesson  helps, 
such  as  were  being  published  by  other  denomi- 
nations, and  by  our  Baptist  brethren  at  the 
North,  through  the  American  Baptist  Publica- 
tion Society  at  Philadelphia. 

The  lease  under  which  the  Home  Mission 
Board  was  publishing  Kind  Words  was  to  ex- 
pire in  1886.  Dr.  Tichenor's  report  to  the 
Convention  in  Augusta  in  1885  calls  attention 
to  this  and  asks  for  a  committee  to  consider 
the  question  of  making  a  new  lease  that  would 
meet  the  advanced  needs  of  Sunday-school 
work.  Dr.  J.  B.  Hawthorne,  then  a  member 
of  the  Board,  tells  us  that  before  the  meeting 
in  Augusta,  the  Secretary  outlined  to  him  the 
whole  policy  which  he  proposed  to  advocate. 
Dr.  Tichenor,  as  quoted  by  Dr.  Hawthorne  in 
his  memorial  address,  said:  ''We  must  get 
the  Convention  to  adopt  a  resolution  author- 
izing the  Home  Board  to  provide  for  the  publi- 
cation of  a  periodical  literature  for  our  South- 
ern Baptist  Sunday  schools.  Then  the  Board 
must  let  the  contract  for  the  publication  of  this 
literature  for  a  term  of  five  years  to  some 
reliable  firm.    The  success  of  the  undertaking 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  57 

will  convince  the  Convention  of  the  impor- 
tance of  continuing  the  work." 

Dr.  Tichenor  carried  out  his  purpose,  and 
at  Augusta  in  1885  the  Convention  authorized 
the  Board  to  mature  plans  to  meet  the  new 
needs.  The  Board  at  once  began  the  execution 
of  this  high  trust,  and  a  year  later,  1886,  re- 
ported to  the  Convention  at  Montgomery  a 
plan  for  publishing  its  periodicals.  It  was  a 
contract  with  competent  and  trustworthy  prin- 
ters for  a  term  of  five  years,  to  publish  the 
series  without  cost  or  financial  liability  to 
either  the  Home  Board  or  the  Convention,  but 
with  the  possibility  of  profit  in  the  way  of 
royalty.  The  Convention  approved  the  plan, 
confirmed  the  contract,  and  authorized  the 
Board  to  proceed  with  the  work.  Thus  it 
came  to  pass  that  in  January,  1887,  the  Kind 
Words  Series  of  Graded  Lesson  Helps  were 
first  published,  and  Dr.  Tichenor  presented 
them  to  the  denomination,  feeling  sure  of  their 
need  and  destiny  among  the  Baptists  of  the 
South. 

Then  there  came  one  of  the  severest  conflicts 
ever  known  in  our  denominational  life.  The 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society  was  al- 
ready furnishing  many  of  our  schools  with 
literature,  and  finding  a  profitable  field  for  its 
business.     It  was  more  than  willing  to  under- 


58  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

take  the  publishing  business  for  the  Baptists 
of  the  South,  and  also  the  care  of  their  Sunday- 
school  interests.  And  many  of  our  people, 
including  some  of  the  very  best  leaders  among 
us,  were  in  favor  of  committing  these  high 
interests  to  the  Society.  The  Society  itself 
pressed  its  claim  with  vigor  upon  the  attention 
of  our  people,  and  through  its  friends  with- 
stood this  movement  of  the  Convention  to  fos- 
ter its  own  Sunday-school  cause  and  publish 
its  own  Sunday-school  literature.  The  Home 
Mission  Board,  with  its  able  Secretary,  held 
that  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  commit  such  a 
trust  to  any  organization  outside  of  the  Con- 
vention itself,  and  heroically  stood  for  the 
policy  which  it  had  outlined  and  inaugurated. 
While  the  contention  was  at  its  height,  and 
speedily  coming  to  its  crisis.  Dr.  J.  M.  Frost, 
the  present  Secretary  of  the  Sunday  School 
Board,  but  then  pastor  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
published  in  The  Religion'^  Herald  of  that  city, 
Jan.  lo,  1890,  a  set  of  resolutions  which  were 
copied  in  the  Baptist  press  of  the  South.  These 
resolutions  proposed  to  create  a  "Publication 
Board"  to  take  charge  of  our  Sunday-school 
literature,  and  were  to  be  presented  to  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention  in  May  at  Fort 
Worth,  Texas.  This  was  an  independent 
movement,  growing  out  of  the  discussion  and 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  59 

friendly  to  the  Home  Mission  Board,  but  with- 
out consultation  with  either  that  Board  or  its 
Secretary,  and  indeed  without  their  knowl- 
edge. And  yet  the  first  word  of  approval  and 
endorsement  to  come  from  outside  of  Rich- 
mond, and  come  promptly,  to  the  mover  of  the 
resolution,  was  from  Dr.  Tichenor,  giving  en- 
dorsement and  promising  full  support  of  him- 
self and  of  his  Board.  From  the  first  it  was  in 
the  mind  of  Dr.  Tichenor,  often  expressed  to 
those  nearest  to  him,  that  ultimately  the  Con- 
vention must  have  a  separate  Board  in  charge 
of  its  publication  interests. 

The  resolutions  brought  on  a  heated  discus- 
sion, and  in  due  time  were  presented  to  the 
Convention.  But  at  Forth  Worth  a  tentative 
and  compromised  measure  prevailed  which 
provided  for  a  Sunday  School  Committee  to  be 
located  at  Louisville,  Kentucky.  But  this  was 
inadequate  and  unsatisfactory,  and  the  battle 
raged  for  another  year.  The  final  victory 
came  for  a  settled  policy  which  all  now  believe 
to  be  eminently  wise  when  the  Convention  in 
session  at  Birmingham,  in  1891,  created  the 
present  Sunday  School  Board,  and  located 
it  at  Nashville,  Tennessee.  Under  instruction 
of  the  Convention,  the  Home  Board  turned 
over  to  the  new  board  its  publication  business, 
which  had  already  attained  great  success  under 


60  ISAAC    TAYLOR  TICHENOR 

trying  difficulties,  and  had  proven  itself  a  valu- 
able asset,  both  in  money  and  in  educational 
value.  Dr.  Tichenor  never  failed,  during  his 
entire  life,  to  give  this  enterprise  his  support 
in  public  and  private,  and  considered  it  the 
most  effective  way  to  carry  out  the  plan  which 
he  himself  had  inaugurated  for  the  Baptists 
of  the  South  to  publish  and  control  their  own 
literature. 

It  has  been  in  accord  with  the  fitness  of 
things  that  Dr.  J.  M.  Frost  should  in  largest 
measure  guide  the  destinies  of  the  new  board. 
And  now  that  great  success  has  crowned  the 
enterprise,  and  it  has  become  an  immense 
power  in  our  denominational  life,  the  Sunday 
School  Board  does  not  forget  its  obligation  to 
the  old  Home  Mission  Secretary.  Last  year 
Dr.  Frost  sent  the  check  of  his  Board  for  two 
thousand  dollars  to  the  Tichenor  Memorial 
Church  Building  Fund  of  the  Home 
Board.  In  so  doing  they  give  ample  recogni- 
tion of  Dr.  Tichenor's  relation  to  the  founda- 
tion of  their  great  enterprise.  They  say  to  the 
Home  Board:  'This  contribution  is  in  con- 
sideration of  the  distinguished  services  Dr. 
Tichenor  rendered  the  denomination  in  origi- 
nating the  series  of  periodicals  we  are  now 
publishing." 

Tv/o  of  the  most  important  factors  in  the 


THE  HOME   xVllssiON   is'iA'rESMAN  61 

solidarity  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention 
today  are  to  be  found  in  the  great  and  loyal 
constituency  we  now  have  in  the  great  South- 
west, and  the  power  and  influence  now  wielded 
by  our  Sunday  School  Board  in  its  great  sys- 
tem of  Sunday-school  literature,  and  Sunday- 
school  evangelism.  To  no  one  man  are  \v^ 
more  indebted  to  these  things  than  to  him  who, 
in  the  crises  of  these  enterprises,  stood  at  the 
helm  and  outlined  and  guided  the  policies  of 
the  Home  Board. 

3.  Our  Mountain  Problem. — It  was  early 
in  his  work  that  Dr.  Tichenor  began  to  place 
a  special  emphasis  upon  the  sokttion  of  the 
mountain  problem.  His  expert  knowledge  of 
the  material  resources  of  our  mountain  section, 
together  with  the  character  of  its  native  popu- 
lation, led  him  to  prophesy  to  Southern  Bap- 
tists concerning  these  conditions  and  the  obli- 
gations arising  out  of  them.  His  first  great 
deliverance  on  this  subject  is  found  in  his 
report  to  the  Convention  for  1885,  and  it  is 
well  worth  recording  here. 

"This  mountain  region  extending  from  Vir- 
ginia to  x\labama,  and  embracing  parts  of 
these  States,  as  well  as  portions  of  Georgia, 
Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and 
West  Virginia,  must,  in  the  not  distant  future, 
develop  an  amount  of  material  wealth  of  vvhich 


62  ISAAC   TAYLOR  TICMENOR 

many  of  our  people  have  little  conception. 
It  is  filled  with  Baptists.  The  large  majority 
of  their  people  are  either  members  of  our 
churches  or  are  under  their  influence.  But 
they  are  for  the  most  part  poor,  and  have 
enjoyed  slender  advantages,  either  for  intel- 
lectual or  spiritual  culture.  Our  interest  in 
them  as  brethren,  and  our  interest  looking  to 
the  future  of  our  denomination,  alike  require 
that  we  extend  to  them  a  helping  hand.  Men 
of  broad  views  and  sound  practical  judgment 
sent  among  them  now  to  induce  a  desire  for 
better  things,  to  stimulate  them  to  establish 
schools,  to  erect  better  houses  of  worship,  and 
to  elevate  them  to  a  higher  plane  of  life,  would 
be  work  for  them  and  for  the  Lord,  which  will 
be  as  lasting  as  the  eternal  mountains  among 
which  they  dwell.  From  out  of  the  fastnesses 
of  these  mountains  will  come  men  who,  nur- 
tured amid  their  rugged  grandeur,  and  en- 
nobled by  lifelong  communion  with  them,  will 
make  the  world  feel  their  power  and  wonder 
at  their  strength.  Cultured  and  developed  by 
the  pure  truth  of  the  gospel,  such  men  will 
pour  forth  their  streams  of  influence  upon  the 
world,  as  their  mountains  pour  their  rivers  to 
the  sea.  They  will  be  strong  to  battle  for  the 
right  as  their  own  sturdy  oaks  are  to  wrestle 
with   the   storm.     They  will    rise   above   the 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  63 

trivial  temptations  of  the  world  as  their  eagles 
soar  above  the  g-athering-  clouds,  and  from 
great  heights  of  truth  and  duty  they  will  look 
down  upon  the  struggling  mass  of  men,  as 
their  mountain  summits  look  down  upon  the 
plains  below." 

From  that  day  forth  the  great  Mountain 
Problem  lay  heavy  upon  the  heart  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Home  Board.  He  had 
climbed  the  mountain  peak  and  caught  a  vision 
from  heaven,  and  he  failed  not  to  prophesy  to 
his  people.  From  the  platforms  of  conven- 
tions and  associations,  by  eloquent  tongue  and 
gifted  pen,  as  well  as  in  his  masterly  reports, 
he  called  the  people  to  this  great  opportunity. 
The  annual  reports  of  Dr.  Tichenor,  written 
during  the  eighteen  years  of  his  service  of  the 
Convention,  set  forth  important  phases  of 
Baptist  history,  and  are  choice  gems  of  literary 
composition.  The  greatest  of  his  written  de- 
liverances on  the  Mountain  Work  is  to  be 
found  in  his  report  to  the  Convention  at  Fort 
Worth  in  1890.  Concerning  this  report.  Dr. 
John  A.  Broadus,  in  an  address  to  that  body, 
said:  "Let  every  member  of  this  Convention 
read  carefully  the  report  of  our  Home  Secre- 
tary. And  if  you  will  not  read  it  for  its  mas- 
terful marshaling  of  facts  and  conditions  in 
our  Southland  as  they  relate  to  Baptist  oppor- 


84  ISAAC   TAYLOR  TiCHENOR 

tunity,  then  read  it  as  an  example  of  pure 
English  undefiled."  In  the  year  1891,  just 
following  this  report  to  which  reference  has 
been  made,  the  Board  reported  that  they  had 
rendered  direct  financial  aid  to  Hiawassee 
Institute,  in  the  mountains  of  North  Georgia. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  policy  of  the 
Board  by  which  it  has  fostered  Christian 
schools  as  a  factor  in  the  solution  of  the  mis- 
sion problem  of  the  mountains.  Under  the 
patronage  of  this  Board  there  are  now  twenty- 
two  such  schools  in  our  mountain  section,  and 
for  the  session  now  closing  there  are  gathered 
in  these  schools  3,875  pupils.  .From  these 
mountains  are  going  forth  today  men  and 
money  to  bless  the  world.  Verily  this  day  the 
prophecy  is  fulfilled  in  your  midst. 

4.  Other  Phases  of  the  Work. — It  is  not 
needful  to  discuss  in  detail  the  impress  Dr. 
Tichenor  made  upon  other  departments  of  the 
great  work  entrusted  to  the  Home  Board.  To 
the  immigration  problem  as  it  touched  the 
South,  to  the  evangelization  of  our  crowded 
cities,  to  the  doing  of  something  practical  for 
the  progress  of  the  Negro  race  in  our  midst — 
to  all  of  these  he  gave  his  wisdom  and  the  best 
powers  of  his  consecrated  energies. 

In  1886  the  Island  of  Cuba  presented  itself 
to  Southern  Baptists  as  an  important  mission 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  65 

field.  To  the  voice  that  came  to  us  through 
the  State  Board  of  Florida  concerning  the  con- 
ditions on  the  island  we  could  not  turn  a  deaf 
ear.  The  cry  for  help  was  imperative  and  the 
outlook  most  hopeful.  The  Convention  that 
year  met  in  the  old  church  at  ^Montgomery, 
Alabama,  and  in  the  providence  of  God  and 
the  wisdom  of  the  Convention  the  task  of 
evangelizing  Cuba  was  committed  as  a  trust 
to  the  Home  Board.  The  enterprise  appealed 
strongly  to  Dr.  Tichenor,  and  he  at  once  be- 
came intensely  interested  in  laying  there  the 
foundations  for  a  great  and  aggressive  work. 
His  whole  soul  was  in  it.  He  believed  that 
Cuba  would  ultimately  be  annexed  to  the 
United  States,  that  it  would  be  the  key  to  the 
situation  in  many  conditions  that  might  arise 
on  our  Gulf  Coast,  and  that  the  planting  of 
the  pure  Protestant  faith  on  this  Queen  of  the 
x\ntilles  was  of  vital  importance  to  our  own 
country.  In  the  management  of  the  many  del- 
icate and  difficult  questions  which  arose  in  the 
subsequent  transition  period  of  the  island,  Dr. 
Tichenor  showed  rare  judgment  and  skill.  He 
made  frequent  visits  to  Cuba  and  kept  in  touch 
with  conditions  there,  and  whether  dealing  with 
the  work  as  it  related  to  Spanish  law  and  gov- 
ernment or  presenting  the  cause  to  the  churches 
at  home,  he  was  master  of  the  situation.     That 

5 


66  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

some  of  the  roseate  and  romantic  hopes  that 
were  cherished,  especially  as  they  centered  in 
the  personality  of  the  brilliant  native  Cuban, 
Alberto  J.  Diaz,  have  been  disappointed,  was  no 
fault  of  the  Home  Board  or  its  Secretary. 
With  the  broad  foundations  of  our  work  in 
Cuba  on  which  we  are  now  building,  the  name 
of  Tichenor  must  remain  in  honorable  asso- 
ciation. 

Before  we  close  this  record  of  service  we 
need  to  have  impressed  anew  the  obligations 
that  rest  upon  us  in  the  saving  of  the  home- 
land. Our  country  is  the  battle-ground  of 
Christianity,  and  here  is  the  great  Baptist  op- 
portunity. Let  us  then  climb  the  mountain 
peak  with  this  prophet  of  God,  listen  once  more 
to  his  pleading  voice,  and  catch  the  broader 
visions  of  the  mission  of  our  people.  Here  are 
the  words  as  he  spoke  them  in  the  Convention 
3f  1890. 

*ln  looking  forward  through  coming  years, 
the  Board  is  profoundly  impressed  with  the 
magnitude  of  its  work  and  the  responsibility 
of  its  position.  It  cannot  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  religious  destiny  of  the  world  is  lodged 
in  the  hands  of  the  English-speaking  people. 
To  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  God  seems  to  have 
committed  the  enterprise  of  the  world's  conver- 
sion. The  aggressive  forces  of  Christianity 
are  limited  to  this  race,  and  of  this  race  the 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  67 

American  people  constitute  a  rapidly  increas- 
ing majority.  Of  the  five  millions  of  Baptists 
in  the  world,  more  than  three  millions  of  them 
are  in  this  country,  and  a  majority  of  these  live 
within  the  bounds  of  this  Convention.  This 
Convention  today  is  environed  by  facts  whose 
grandeur  overpowers  and  bewilders  the  mind 
when  we  attempt  to  array  them  for  considera- 
tion. 

"Let  us  not  forget  our  obligations  to  the  land 
in  which  we  live.  This  is  our  country,  in  that 
for  the  first  time  in  all  our  history  we  have  a 
fair  opportunity  to  show  what  Baptist  prin- 
ciples are  worth  to  the  world.  Here,  after 
weary  centuries  of  bloody  persecutions,  when 
the  smoke  of  their  martyrdom  had  filled  the 
skies  of  all  the  nations,  exiled  from  all  lands, 
and  with  sword  and  fagot  driven  from  every 
shore,  they  have  found  a  home  where  they  sit 
down  under  their  own  vine  and  fig  tree  and 
worship  God  in  peace. 

"Here,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  they  find  a  civil  government  conformed 
to  their  ideas  of  justice,  and  protecting  them 
in  the  exercise  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  con- 
science. Here  they  achieved  their  noblest 
victories,  for  they  were  leaders  in  separating 
Church  and  State,  and  giving  soul  liberty  to 
this  continent.  From  an  insignificant  "sect," 
despised  for  its  ignorance  and  alleged  bigotry, 
they  have  in  a  single  century  won  their  way  to 
a  leading  position  among  the  religious  denom- 
inations of  the  land.  Their  ratio  of  increase 
has  doubled  that  of  population,  and  within  the 


68  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

bounds  of  this  Convention,  covering  half  the 
area  of  this  great  country,  by  their  numbers, 
their  intelHgence,  their  social  pov^er,  they  con- 
trol half  the  entire  population. 

''Here  for  the  first  time  in  all  their  history, 
they  have  full  and  fair  opportunity  to  vindicate 
the  truth  of  the  claims  they  have  always  made, 
and  for  which  their  martyrs  have  died.  Here, 
and  now  for  the  first  time,  they  are  on  trial 
before  the  nations.  If  now  they  do  not  demon- 
strate the  superiority  of  their  principles,  their 
greater  value  in  the  propagation  of  truth,  in 
the  upbuilding  of  the  best  interests  of  men, 
and  in  carrying  forward  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
then  the  verdict  of  the  world  will  go  against 
them  and  their  glory  will  be  turned  into  shame. 

"This  must  not  be.  We  must  not  permit  the 
cause  of  truth  and  righteousness  to  perish  in 
our  hands.  Wc  must  not  thus  bring  upon  us 
and  our  children  the  blood  of  all  the  martyrs 
from  Stephen,  who  fell  asleep  calling  upon  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  to  Wescott,  who  died  upon 
the  plains  of  Mexico.  This  is  our  Baptist 
Canaan  into  which  the  Lord  has  led  us.  Let 
us  fill  it  with  the  purity  of  his  truth,  and  on  its 
every  hill  and  valley  writing,  'Holiness  to  the 
Lord,'  send  forth  from  it  swarming  myriads 
who  shall  conquer  the  world  for  Christ. 

"The  times  are  auspicious.  With  the  mul- 
tiplication of  our  members,  the  intellectual  and 
social  elevation  of  our  people,  the  rapid  in- 
crease of  our  wealth,  the  opening  of  golden 
opportunities,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  comes 
a  day  fitted  to  inspire  us  v/ith  new  zeal  and 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  69 

awaken  new  energies  in  our  work.  The  cen- 
tennial of  the  Modern  Missionary  Enterprise 
is  at  hand.  In  October,  1792,  a  little  band  of 
brethren,  gathered  in  the  house  of  a  Baptist 
lady,  made  the  first  contribution  to  the  cause  of 
modern  missions.  What  a  century  has  it  been 
to  our  Baptist  people!  What  progress  they 
have  made !  How  wonderfully  God  has  blessed 
them !  As  we  look  back  over  it  our  hearts 
break  forth  in  songs  of  joy.  This  Convention 
has  resolved  to  celebrate  this  event  in  some 
appropriate  way.  Vv'hy  may  we  not  make  this 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  our  Baptist  people  ? 
If  we  can  devise  some  means  by  w^hich  we  shall 
make  them  see  their  duty,  their  responsibility, 
their  opportunity,  and  rally  them  to  the  great 
work  of  giving  the  gospel  to  every  creature, 
we  shall  then  have  taken  another  grand  step 
toward  the  crowning  glory  of  the  comi*ig  day. 
Let  us  gird  ourselves  for  the  task,  and  relying 
upon  our  Lord  for  help,  strive  for  its  accom- 
plishment." 


70  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  CLOSING  YEARS. 

T  I  N  1899  D^-  Tichenor,  then  entering  the 
I  I  eighteenth  year  of  his  service  as  Secre- 
■«-J  tary  and  closing  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  in  consultation  with  his 
Board  and  his  closest  friends,  retired  from  the 
chief  responsibility  of  the  Home  Mission  work. 
The  Board  recognizing  the  value  of  his  mature 
wisdom  and  experience  in  its  affairs,  as  well  as 
their  obligations  for  his  past  service,  elected 
him  to  the  position  of  Secretary  Emeritus.  In 
the  person  of  Dr.  F.  H.  Kerfoot  was  found  as 
his  successor  a  man  well  adapted  to  the  work, 
and  in  full  sympathy  with  the  plans  and  policies 
of  the  Board  as  administered  by  the  retiring 
Secretary.  Dr.  Kerfoot  came  into  office  late  in 
the  year,  so  that  much  of  the  work  of  that  year 
fell  upon  the  shoulders  of  Dr.  Tichenor.  Prac- 
tically, therefore,  his  retirement  dates  from  the 
Convention  at  Hot  Springs,  in  the  year  1900. 
And  so  we  would  have  it  recorded,  for  it  was 
there  that  he  received  from  his  brethren  such 
an  ovation  as  had  never  been  accorded  any 


IN  TESTIMONY 

OF  THE 

EFFICIENT   AND   BLAMELESS   SERVICE 

THROUGH    EIGHTEEN   YEARS 

OF 

ISAAC  TAYLOR  TICHENOR,  D.  D. 

AS   CORRESPONDING   SECRETARY 
OF  THE 


HOME  MISSION   BOARD 

OF  THE 

SOUTHERN   BAPTIST   CONVENTION 

FROM    FRIENDS    WHO    HAVE    FELT   THE   INSPIRATION   OF   HIS 

GENIUS    AND    REJOICED    IN   THE  TRIUMPHS 

OF   HIS    LEADERSHIP. 


TIIK    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  71 

Other  man  in  the  history  of  that  body.  The 
opening  paragraph  of  the  report  of  the  Board 
to  that  convention  contains  the  following  trib- 
ute to  him.  'The  Board  cannot  express  too 
strongly  the  affectionate  regard  and  esteem  in 
which  Dr.  Tichenor  is  held  by  the  members  of 
the  Board  and  by  the  denomination  at  large, 
which  he  has  so  long  and  so  faithfully  and  ably 
served.  The  name  of  I.  T.  Tichenor  will  al- 
ways stand  with  those  of  Boyce,  and  Broadus, 
and  Manly,  and  Mell,  and  Jeter,  and  Fuller, 
and  Furman,  and  Poindexter,  and  Taylor,  and 
Tupper — a  galaxy  of  as  great  and  good  and 
noble  men  as  God  ever  gave  to  any  denomina- 
tion of  Christian  people.  And  among  all  of 
these  no  man  had  more  to  do  with  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention 
than  this  noble  man  of  God,  the  long  time  hon- 
ored Secretary  of  the  Home  ]\Iission  Board." 

In  the  course  of  that  Convention  there  oc- 
curred a  most  pleasing  episode  in  the  pre- 
sentation to  Dr.  Tichenor  of  a  handsome  solid 
silver  Victory  Vase.  It  was  a  gift  of  appre- 
ciation from  friends  from  the  various  Southern 
States,  and  was  accompanied  by  a  demonstra- 
tion seldom  seen  upon  the  floor  of  any  Con- 
vention. Thus  closed  his  public  life  amid  tear- 
ful gratulations,  and  the  ripe  years'  rich  coro- 
net, which  his  brethren  placed  upon  his  brow,  he 


72  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

•wore  with  the  humiUty  of  a  true  disciple  of  the 
lowly  Master  whom  he  served.  This  presenta- 
tion was  made  by  Dr.  Lansing  Burrows,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Convention,  who  was  instrumental 
in  securing  the  testimonial. 

Soon  after  his  retirement  from  active  work, 
Dr.  Tichenor's  health  began  to  fail.  A  fatal 
disease  had  laid  its  strong  hold  upon  him,  and 
through  long  months  of  weakness  and  suffer- 
ing he  went  slowly  down  to  the  river's  brink. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  minister  at  his  bedside 
during  the  last  month  of  his  illness.  To  the 
very  end  he  was  to  me  the  supreme  ideal  of 
the  Christian  optimist.  He  would  talk  to  me 
but  little  of  his  past  life,  for  his  face  was  still 
to  the  future.  Sometimes  when  seated  alone 
at  his  bedside  and  he  was  free  from  pain,  he 
would  talk  to  me  of  the  coming  glories  of  the 
Southland  and  the  great  Baptist  opportunity, 
as  though  he  was  addressing  a  convention  of 
his  people.  And  I  remember  how  on  one 
occasion  he  turned  away  from  the  scenes  of 
earth,  and  with  a  strange  light  in  his  eyes,  he 
talked  to  me  of  that  higher  mount  of  vision  to 
which  he  would  soon  climb,  and  untrammelled 
by  flesh  or  sense  or  time,  would  behold  the 
great  things  of  God,  no  longer  through  a  glass 
darkly.  O  the  visions  of  God's  dying  prophet, 
how  they  thrill  my  soul  today ! 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  73 

He  passed  slowly  over  the  river,  and  once 
and  again  he  halted  in  the  stream.  Sometimes 
it  was  to  speak  another  word  to  the  watchers 
at  the  river  brink,  and  sometimes  it  was  to 
watch  the  coming  light  of  the  new  day  that 
was  dawning  to  his  soul.  It  was  the  morning 
of  the  second  day  of  December,  1902.  His 
family  were  all  gathered  at  his  bedside.  I 
was  kneeling  beside  him  and  held  his  hand  in 
mine.  Then  it  was  that  the  chariot  wheel 
tarried  no  longer,  and  his  great  soul  was 
ushered  through  the  uplifted  gates.  I  fancy 
that  he  heard  the  angelic  chorus  singing,  "Lift 
up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  and  be  ye  lifted 
up,  ye  everlasting  doors,  and  let  this  King  of 
glory  come  in."  And  then  when  I  reached  out 
to  lay  my  fingers  upon  his  eyes  to  close  them, 
for  I  coveted  the  privilege,  behold !  they  were 
closed  as  in  peaceful  sleep,  as  though  an  un- 
seen hand  had  touched  them,  and  a  voice  had 
said,  "He  giveth  his  beloved  sleep." 

It  was  by  special  request  of  Dr.  Tichenor 
that  Dr.  Lansing  Burrows  stood  in  the  order 
of  the  occasion  and  spoke  at  the  funeral  the 
words  of  comfort  and  appreciation.  This 
service  he  rendered  with  beautiful  appropriate- 
ness. We  have  laid  him  to  rest  at  the  foot  of 
a  green  slope  in  Atlanta's  \^^est  View  Ceme- 


74  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

tery.      On  the  granite  shaft  that  marks  the 
place  there  is  this  inscription : 

"He  had  understanding  of  the  times,  to  know 
what  Israel  ought  to  do."  "After  he  had  served 
his  own  generation  by  the  will  of  God  he  fell  on 
sleep." 

But  a  better  monument  than  that  his  family 
could  erect  over  his  grave,  whether  granite 
shaft  or  marble  mausoleum,  has  been  built  to 
his  memory.  Dr.  Tichenor  was  a  great  friend 
of  Woman's  Work,  as  it  found  expression  in 
the  Woman's  Missionary  Union,  Auxiliary  to 
the  Southern  Baptist  Convention.  He  was 
among  the  foremost  to  give  it  wise  counsel 
and  active  aid.  Immediately  upon  his  death 
it  came  into  the  hearts  of  the  good  women  of 
this  organization  to  build  him  a  monument. 
Accordingly,  as  a  sacred  trust,  they  have 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Home  Board  a  com- 
pleted fund  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  to  be 
known  as  the  Tichenor  Memorial  Church 
Building  Fund.  When  in  the  coming  years 
it  shall  be  asked,  "Where  is  your  monument  to 
I.  T.  Tichenor?"  Southern  Baptists  will  not 
point  to  the  marking  of  his  grave  in  Atlanta's 
beautiful  cemetery,  where  sleeps  his  mortal 
part.  They  will  rather  point  to  a  thousand 
different  spots,  on  the  hilltops  and  in  the  val- 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  75 

leys,  upon  crowded  avenues  of  rapidly  grow- 
ing cities,  where  in  the  face  of  the  foe  a  feeble 
band  sought  to  plant  the  banner  of  the  cross, 
for  wherever  this  fund  shall  have  helped  to 
build  "a  church  home  for  a  homeless  church  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  there  will  be  his  Memorial. 
"He  being  dead  yet  speaketh." 


76  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 


REWARD 

BY  ANNIE  KATE  BARNES.  GRANDDAUGHTER  OF 
1.  T.  TICHENOR. 

For  one  who  has  bis  duty  clearly  shown 

There  is  no  need  to  scan  the  distant  hills, 
Or  gaze  upon  the  fields  in  flowers  blown, 

Or  search  for  his  desire  along  the  rills. 
These  be  temptations  leading  on  to  ills 

Of  discontent  and  disappointment  sown 
Within  the  heart.     If  duty  there  instils 

Her  later  peace  in  perfect  work  upgrown, 
Oh,  then  from  gazing  on  the  narrow  way, 

He  may  lift  up,  at  last,  his  daring  eyes. 
And  take  refreshment  from  the  fairer  day, 

Behold  the  summer  in  the  circling  skies, 
Reach  out  to  choose  his  favors,  even  lay 

His  hands  upon  the  gates  of  Paradise. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  77 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MY  FATHER'S  PERSONAL  AND  HOME  LIFE. 

MARY  TICHENOR  BARNES. 

mT  is  early  morning.  A  little  girl  of 
about  ten  years  of  age  stands  in  the 
center  of  a  room,  broom  and  duster  in 
hand.  It  is  her  father's  library,  and 
she  has  been  sent  to  tidy  it  up  for  him.  She 
stands  inactive  and  leaning  on  the  broom. 
She  is  thinking  hard,  for  her  heart  is  sore.  At 
breakfast  that  morning  the  family  had  been 
teasing  her  father,  and  the  childish  heart  re- 
sented the  fact  that  all  seemed  to  side  against 
him.  Presently  the  girl's  head  is  raised,  and 
with  a  determined  look  in  her  face,  though 
alone,  she  speaks  aloud,  "It  doesn't  matter 
who  is  against  him,  I  will  always  be  true  to 
him."  This  was  the  first  revelation  to  herself 
of  the  meaning  of  loyalty. 

A  mature  woman  stands  beside  the  shaft 
erected  to  her  father's  memory,  and  turning 
her  face  back  over  the  years  that  have  inter- 
vened, salutes  the  girl  who  stands,  broom  and 
duster  in  hand,  in  the  library,  and  calls  down 


78  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

the  gallery  of  the  years,  "I  have  kept  my  vow." 
She  had  kept  it,  not  simply  because  it  was  a 
vow,  for  in  a  long  life  many  useless  vows  have 
been  made  and  abandoned,  but  kept  it  because 
of  the  character  of  the  man  who  was  the  occa- 
sion of  it.  Such,  I  believe,  was  the  feeling  of 
each  member  of  our  family  toward  our  father. 
We  loved  the  parent,  but  we  loved  and  trusted 
the  man  even  more. 

In  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  the 
home  and  family  life,  no  one  ever  believed 
more  strongly  than  did  my  father.  The  home 
instinct  and  the  family  tie  were  deeply 
wrought  into  his  nature.  In  the  realization 
of  this  he  was  most  fortunate  and  most  un- 
fortunate. Fortunate  in  that  he  wooed  and 
won  to  his  side  four  as  choice  women  as  ever 
blessed  a  man's  home.  Each  was  the  member 
of  a  proud  family,  and  possessed  in  themselves 
personal  charms,  broad  culture,  and  highest 
moral  and  spiritual  worth.  He  was  most  un- 
fortunate in  that  with  each  one  of  these  life 
was  short.  Many  vicissitudes  encompassed 
him,  and  his  pathway  led  him  by  many  graves. 
God  only  gave  him  sixteen  years  of  married 
life.  Thus  it  was  that  none  of  his  children 
ever  knew  a  mother's  love.  This  accounted, 
no  doubt,  for  a  certain  tenderness  of  thought 
for  them,  a  characteristic  apart  from  demon- 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  79 

stration,  for  he  was  not  a  demonstrative  man, 
and  also  for  the  fact  that  he  held  them  together 
in  a  home  life  amidst  circumstances  that 
would  have  disorganized  other  homes. 

He  loved  to  discourse  to  us  of  the  sanctity 
of  the  home  as  God-given.  He  would  talk  of 
its  institution  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  tell  of 
the  necessity  of  its  continued  maintenance  for 
the  upholding  of  our  country's  civilization, 
and  then  wind  up  with  some  expression  of  his 
supreme  disgust  for  those  who  eschewed  the 
holy  state  of  matrimony.  These  remarks 
were  sometimes  so  forcible  that  they  would 
occasion  mxUch  merriment  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family;  but  only  the  youngest  of 
us  dared  to  say,  "Well,  papa,  you  did  your 
best."  So  strong  was  this  feeling  within  him 
that,  although  over  seventy  years  old  at  his 
retirement  from  the  active  work  of  the  Home 
Board,  he  sold  his  city  home,  bought  twenty- 
five  acres  on  the  outskirts  of  Atlanta,  expect- 
ing to  build  him  a  comfortable  home,  surround 
himself  with  flowers  and  a  vegetable  farm, 
and  have  a  place  where  his  children  could 
come  and  gather  about  him.  But  before  this 
wish  could  be  accomplished,  the  ^Master's  voice 
called  him  to  the  habitation  of  the  blessed,  to 
the  mansion  prepared  for  all  them  that  love 
him. 


80  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

He  has  left  four  children,  nov/  grown  to 
maturity  and  in  the  activities  of  life.  Besides 
the  author  of  this  sketch,  who  had  the  priv- 
ilege of  being  his  homekeeper  during  the  last 
twenty  years  of  his  life,  there  is  Mrs.  J.  S. 
Dill,  now  of  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  and 
Mrs.  T.  C.  Whitner,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia; 
while  his  only  son,  Walker  Reynolds  Tichenor, 
is  practicing  law  in  Atlanta.  These  were  the 
children  who  gathered  about  his  hearthstone, 
both  to  be  ministered  unto  and  to  minister; 
and  each  rejoiced  whether  in  giving  or  receiv- 
hig.  Even  to  old  age  it  was  a  joy  to  him  to 
minister  to  us,  and  sometimes  it  was  in  a 
thoroughly  unique  way.  On  his  seventy-fifth 
birthday  he  announced  to  the  family  that  the 
usual  custom  of  the  day  would  be  reversed, 
and  he  would  give  a  present  to  each  one.  This 
he  did  in  a  most  handsome  fashion. 

The  social  atmosphere  of  his  home  was  one 
in  which  each  child  exercised  a  happy  freedom, 
yet  it  was  that  best  freedom  that  does  not  for- 
get rightful  authority.  When  you  entered 
our  home  there  was  no  uncertainty  as  to  who 
was  the  head  of  the  house,  and  yet  there  was 
no  bluster,  only  quiet  firmness.  As  children, 
we  never  realized  that  he  had  any  special  rules, 
yet  his  requirements  were  in  that  positive  way 
that  we  knew  it  was  the  thing  to  be  done. 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  81 

No  thought  of  our  failure  to  accomplish  it 
entered  his  mind,  and  so  we  did  the  thing  he 
wished.  The  reasonableness  of  his  demands 
and  his  quiet  faith  in  his  children  perhaps  ac- 
counted for  the  fact  that  he  had  no  flagrant 
disobedience  among  them,  for  they  were  all 
positive  characters. 

When  the  youngest  child  was  a  small  boy, 
he  one  day  threw  a  stone  and  broke  the  win- 
dow pane  of  the  schoolhouse.  He  was  soon 
in  the  hands  of  the  authorities.  My  father 
took  the  child  upon  his  lap,  asked  him  to  tell 
the  whole  truth  about  the  transaction,  whether 
it  was  an  accident  or  a  willful  act.  Having 
his  word  that  it  was  an  accident,  he  assured 
the  child  of  his  faith  in  him,  and  in  the  most 
painstaking  way  proved  to  the  authorities  his 
innocence  and  made  amends  for  the  destruc- 
tion. 

His  faith  in  accomplishment,  with  no  ac- 
ceptance of  refusal,  can  be  illustrated  by  the 
following  incident.  At  the  silver  anniversary 
of  the  Polytechnic  College  of  Alabama,  the 
alumni  requested  that  he  present  the  College 
with  his  portrait.  Our  brother  was  to  make 
the  presentation  and  unveil  the  portrait.  He 
and  my  father  were  of  course  to  be  present  on 
the  occasion.  Two  days  previous  to  the  un- 
veiling,  father  was  taken  with  a  sickness  which 
6 


82  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

left  no  hope  that  he  would  be  able  to  attend 
the  exercises.  He  called  his  eldest  daughter 
to  him  and  said,  ''You  must  represent  me  at 
the  unveiling."  To  this  she  consented.  Then 
came  the  astonishing  words,  "If  my  son 
should  fail  to  reach  there  in  time,  you  must 
make  the  address  and  present  the  portrait." 

'Tather,  I  cannot.  It  is  impossible.  The 
Governor  of  the  State  will  be  there,  and  the 
Judges  and  the  Trustees.  I  never  did  such 
a  thing  in  my  life.  I  cannot."  "Yes  you 
can,  and  you  must." 

So  ended  the  conversation.  Then  began, 
with  much  trepidation,  the  hurried  arrange- 
ments to  take  the  train.  No  time  for  thought. 
A  scrap  of  paper  and  a  pencil  were  put  in  the 
satchel  to  scribble  down  a  few  thoughts  to  aid 
a  stammering  tongue.  Arrived  at  her  destina- 
tion, there  were  friends  to  greet,  explanations 
to  make  of  her  father's  absence,  then  late  to 
bed.  Still  no  time  for  thought.  She  was 
only  controlled  by  the  feeling  that  one  must 
do  or  die.  Early  next  morning,  while  con- 
versing with  friends,  a  little  black  head  was 
poked  in  the  door,  and  a  darky  voice  said, 
"Your  brudder  done  come."  O  the  beauty 
of  that  little  black  face,  the  joy  of  release  from 
the  hard  task,  the  happy  feeling  that  the  fath- 
er's mandates  were  no  longer  binding! 


THE  HOME   MISSION    STATESMAN  83 

When  not  conversing  or  writing,  my  father 
always  had  a  book,  paper  or  map  before  him. 
Every  hour  that  could  be  spared  from  his 
business  he  spent  at  home  with  his  family  and 
among  his  books.  His  room  was  the  sitting 
room,  because  he  preferred  it  so.  Often  he 
was  asked,  "Do  you  not  want  the  children  sent 
away?  Does  not  our  chattering  disturb 
you?"  The  invariable  answer  was,  "No,  I 
like  it.  Let  them  stay."  Such  were  his 
unusual  powers  of  concentration,  that  all  of 
his  home  reading,  writing,  and  thinking,  was 
done  with  all  around  him.  He  loved  congenial 
companionship,  and  was  broadly  given  to  hos- 
pitality. He  seemed  to  prefer  to  have  his 
friends  come  to  him  rather  than  go  out  to  seek 
them.  The  latch-string  was  always  on  the 
outside,  and  the  charming  companions  whom 
he  brought  to  our  home  are  to  us  delightful 
memories,  and  have  yielded  a  legacy  of  choice 
friendships. 

He  loved  humor,  and  could  tell  a  good  anec- 
dote well.  Those  who  knew  him  in  youth  de- 
clare that  he  was  then  a  most  charming  com- 
panion. The  memorable  nights  when  we 
would  gather  on  the  veranda  after  tea  and 
hear  him  talk  on  all  subjects  of  interest  in  the 
heavens  above  or  the  earth  beneath,  shall  abide 
as  benedictions  as  long  as  life  shall  last.     His 


84  ISAAC   TAYLOR  TiCHfiMOR 

choice  English  and  clear  expression,  his  keen 
insight  and  quick  grasp,  his  broad  scope  and 
long  vision — these  adorned  the  conversation  of 
his  home  as  well  as  the  discourses  from  the 
pulpit  and  platform.  He-  was  essentially  a 
religious  man,  and  all  religious  interests  were 
subjects  of  free  and  happy  discussion  in  his 
home.  World-wide  missions  was  the  great 
theme  upon  which  he  loved  most  to  talk.  We 
had  only  to  ask  him  a  question  upon  some  cur- 
rent phase  of  mission  work  to  be  rcAvarded 
with  accurate  information  and  clear  judgment. 
Those  who  knew  him  best  were  not  slow  to 
believe  that  he  had  gifts  that  might  have  gath- 
ered to  him  great  wealth,  or  gratified  high 
political  ambitions,  but  the  purpose  of  his  life 
as  it  found  expression  in  his  own  home  was 
quite  apart  from  these  things.  He  conceived 
that  his  mission  to  mankind  was  the  ministry 
of  the  Word  of  Life.  From  this  he  would 
not  swerve.  For  though  his  life  for  thirty 
years  lay  outside  of  the  pastoral  work,  yet  all 
his  thinking  and  planning  and  doing  had  its 
most  distinct  relation  to  the  saving  of  the 
world  and  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ. 

If  asked  the  three  strongest  elements  in  my 
father's  character,  I  would  say,  conviction, 
courage,  and  perseverance.     These  will  make 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  85 

a  success  of  any  man's  life.  They  made  a 
success  of  his. 

He  did  not  think  a  subject  worth  discussing, 
if  on  it  he  did  not  have  strong  convictions. 
I  remember  once  riding  on  the  train  with 
father  and  Dr.  Henry  McDonald,  The  Doctor 
and  I  were  talking  when  a  new  subject  of 
some  interest  was  broached.  I  asked  the 
Doctor  what  he  thought,  and  he  replied  that 
he  had  given  the  matter  too  little  thought  to 
express  a  positive  opinion.  I  then  said,  ''Have 
you  talked  with  father?"  "No,  but  I  will  go 
over  and  speak  with  him  now."  After  some 
time  he  returned  to  me,  saying,  "Oh,  he  has 
convictions."  And  so  it  was.  This  reminds 
me  of  a  singular  characteristic  which  he  pos- 
sessed. If  he  did  not  consider  a  subject 
worthy,  or  did  not  wish  to  discuss  it,  he  would 
not  reply  to  a  question  concerning  it.  Sitting 
perfectly  still,  without  a  word,  nothing  could 
be  wrenched  from  him.  One  of  my  sisters 
once  said,  "I  have  asked  father  questions  which 
he  has  never  yet  answered."  This  after 
years  of  waiting. 

When  his  convictions  were  formed  and  his 
plans  framed  there  was  no  turning  back.  The 
inevitable  was  the  only  thing  to  which  he 
yielded,  and  when  necessity  forced  him  to 
yield,  the  matter  was  put  by  forever.     Unlike 


86  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

most  Confederate  veterans,  he  rarely  discussed 
the  war.  The  sacrifice  was  too  great,  the 
loss  too  tremendous,  his  heart  was  too  sore,  to 
dwell  upon  it.  He  would  say,  "It  is  settled 
and  passed ;  let  us  not  discuss  it."  So  it  was 
also  of  the  loved  ones  whom  he  had  laid  away. 
He  could  not  often  allow  even  the  dearest 
members  of  his  family  to  probe  into  his  sa- 
cred sorrows.  After  the  death  of  my  step- 
mother, I  went  to  him,  and  sitting  beside  him, 
took  his  hand.  When  I  did  so  he  turned  to 
me  and  said,  "All  thy  waves  and  thy  billows 
have  gone  over  me."  This  and  no  more. 
But,  O  the  pathos  and  sorrow  in  the  tone ! 

His  high  courage  and  strong  perseverance 
left  to  his  children  the  great  lesson:  Always 
keep  your  face  to  the  future.  It  was  true 
always  of  him,  even  in  those  last  sad  days 
when  the  battle  of  health  and  of  life  was  so 
long  and  so  bravely  fought.  Through  those 
days  and  months  of  battle,  only  once  did  he 
sound  a  note  of  discouragement.  One  night 
when  he  was  suffering,  one  of  his  nephews 
came  in  and  asked,  "How  are  you.  Uncle 
Tichenor?"  He  replied,  "I  am  dying;  I  am 
half  dead  already."  His  nephew  answered, 
"Never  give  up  the  ship."  He  looked  up,  and 
with  a  flash  of  the  eye,  replied,  "How  can  I 
help  it  when  the  spar  is  broken  and  the  masts 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  87 

are  all  gone?"      Only  this  note  of  discourage- 
ment during  the  many  weeks. 

He  always  talked  of  the  future  and  was  full 
of  hope.  He  talked  of  this  world  and  all  its 
marvelous  progress,  and  its  final  subjection  to 
the  will  of  the  reigning  Christ ;  and  he  talked 
of  the  "better  country,  that  is,  an  heavenly." 
And  when  the  great  Conqueror  did  come,  he 
found  him  with  high  courage,  sweet  dignity, 
and  undimmed  faith.  He  leaned  trustingly 
on  Him  who  had  vanquished  death.  I  have 
sometimes  wondered,  when  the  grim  Con- 
queror bore  him  through  his  dark  realm  to 
the  shores  of  light,  if  he  did  not  in  recognition 
of  this  courage  and  faith,  bow  low  before  him 
and  say,  "I  am  but  thy  servant." 

"Ob,  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible 
Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 
In  deeds  made  better  by  their  presence ;   live 
In  pulses  stirred  to  generosity, 
In  deeds  of  daring  rectitude,  in  scorn 
For  miserable  aims  that  end  in  self ; 
In  thoughts  sublime  that  pierce  the  night  like 

stars, 
And  with  their  mild  persistence  verge  man's 

search 
To  vaster  issues." 


ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOME    PRODUCTS   OF   HIS   PEN, 


FAST-DAY  SERMON. 

(Delivered  before  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Alabama,  Friday,  August  21,  1863,  and 
published  by  the  following  resolution  of  that 
body: 

''Resolved  That  a  select  committee  of  three  be 
appointed  on  the  part  of  each  House,  to  request  the 
Rev.  I.  T.  Tichenor  to  furnish  a  copy  of  the  sermon 
delivered  by  him  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, on  Friday,  21st  inst,  for  publication.") 

Psalm  46 :  9  :  "He  maketh  wars  to  cease  unto  the 
end  of  the  earth  ;  He  breaketh  the  bow  and  cutteth 
the  spear  in  sunder ;  He  burneth  the  chariot  in  the 
fire." 

fmlHEN  shall  we  have  peace?"  Two 
I  If  I  weary  years  of  war  have  wrung  this 
^  ■"■J  question  from  the  agonized  heart  of 
our  bleeding  country.  ''Oh !  that  we 
could  have  peace!"  exclaims  the  statesman, 
as  he  ponders  the  problems  that  demand  solu- 
tion at  his  hands.      "Peace !"    sighs  the  sol- 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  89 

dier,  as  he  wraps  his  blanket  around  him  and 
Hes  down  to  sleep  upon  the  open  field. 
"Peace!"  moans  the  widow,  as  she  reads  the 
fatal  news  of  her  heroic  husband  fallen  on 
some  bloody  field,  and  bitterly  thinks  of  the 
darkened  future  in  store  for  herself  and  her 
orphaned  children.  The  prayer  of  the  land  is 
for  peace.  You  may  hear  it  in  the  sanctuary, 
at  the  fireside,  around  the  family  altar,  in  the 
silent  chamber,  on  the  tented  field.  When 
will  it  come? 

I  propose  to  respond  to  this  inquiry  today, 
and  to  tell  you  when  peace  will  come.  In 
attempting  this  task  it  would  be  manifest  folly 
to  pretend  to  penetrate  the  future,  or  to  claim 
superior  wisdom  in  state  affairs.  I  have  no 
cabinet  secrets  to  disclose,  no  prophetic  vision 
to  announce,  no  revelation  to  make.  I  have 
only  to  tell  you  and  insist  upon  the  truth  of 
the  declaration  that  God  alone  can  give  us 
peace,  for  "He  maketh  wars  to  cease  unto  the 
end  of  the  earth.  He  breaketh  the  bow  and 
cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder;  He  burneth  the 
chariot  in  the  fire." 

The  continuance  of  this  war  does  not  depend 
upon  the  result  of  battles,  upon  the  skill  of 
our  generals,  the  valor  of  our  soldiers,  the 
wisdom  of  our  statesmen,  the  resources  of  our 
country,   or   the    mad    determination   of   our 


90  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

foes ;  but  upon  the  will  of  our  God.  He  who 
hath  said,  "The  wrath  of  man  shall  praise  him, 
and  the  remainder  of  wrath  he  will  restrain," 
will  give  us  peace  when  we  are  prepared  to  re- 
ceive it.  If  any  one  here  today  hesitates  to 
adopt  this  opinion,  I  ask  his  patient  attention 
to  the  argument  by  which  I  shall  seek  to  estab- 
lish its  truth. 

I.  God  Governs  the  Nations. — No  truth  is 
more  plainly  taught  in  his  word.  ''The  Lord 
reigneth;  let  the  earth  rejoice,  let  the  multi- 
tude of  isles  be  glad  thereof,"  is  the  language 
of  inspiration.  The  Saviour  teaches  us  a  most 
beautiful  and  impressive  lesson  on  this  sub- 
ject. When  urging  the  disciples  to  place  an 
unfaltering  trust  in  the  protection  and  provi- 
dence of  God,  he  says,  ''Consider  the  lilies  of 
the  field  how  they  grow ;  they  toil  not,  neither 
do  they  spin,  yet  I  say  unto  you  that  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these.  Wherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass 
of  the  field,  which  today  is,  and  tomorrow  is 
cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he  not  much  more 
clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith?"  "Are  not 
two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing,  and  one  of 
them  shall  not  fall  on  the  ground  without 
your  Father."  "The  very  hairs  of  your  head 
are  all  rmmbered."  If  God  clothe  the  grass 
of  the  field  with  more  than  royal  beauty,  watch 


THE   HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  91 

the  sparrows  fall,  listen  to  the  young  ravens' 
cry,  number  the  hairs  of  our  head,  who  can 
resist  the  conclusion  that  such  a  pervading 
presence  and  power  governs  the  world  ? 

The  fulfilled  prophecies  of  his  word  teach 
us  the  same  lesson.  Many  of  the  predictions 
of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel  have 
become  history  of  the  past.  The  minuteness 
with  which  they  have  been  fulfilled  forces 
upon  us  the  conviction  that  he  who  inspired 
the  prophecy  rules  this  world.  Jerusalem 
sitting  in  her  lonely  and  desolate  widowhood ; 
Tyre,  upon  whose  bald  rocks  the  fisherman 
spreads  his  net ;  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  moth- 
ers of  empires,  lying  entombed  in  the  ruins  of 
their  former  greatness;  Edom,  in  whose 
strongholds  reign  perpetual  desolation,  are 
witnesses  that  rise  up  from  the  dim  and  shad- 
owy past  to  teach  us  that  God  reigns  over  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  God  has  declared  in  his 
word  that  he  will  give  his  Son  the  dominion 
of  the  world.  "He  will  overturn,  overturn, 
overturn,  until  he  shall  come  whose  right  it  is, 
and  he  will  give  it  to  him."  "Ask  of  me  and 
I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inherit- 
ance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for 
thy  possession."  If  God  exercised  no  direct- 
ing, controlling,  restraining  power  over  the 
world,  liow  could  he  pledge  himself  to  give  it 


92  ISAAC   TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

to  his  Son,  or  what  confidence  could  be  felt 
by  that  Son,  or  by  his  people,  that  the  promise 
would  ever  be  redeemed?  If  God  be  not  the 
Sovereign  Ruler  of  the  universe,  then  the  sac- 
rifice of  his  Son  may  have  been  almost  in  vain ; 
then  the  day  of  deliverance  for  which  the  earth 
"groans  and  travails  in  pain  until  now,"  may 
never  come ;  then  the  rich  promises  of  his  word 
and  the  bright  anticipations  they  have  in- 
spired, with  refernce  to  the  coming  glories  of 
the  Millennial  Day,  are  not  certainties  of  future 
years,  but  the  chilling  shadows  of  doubt 
spread  over  all.  Who  that  believes  the 
Bible  is  true  can  adopt  such  a  conclusion? 

An  opinion,  the  offspring  of  the  carnal 
heart  rather  than  of  the  intellect,  has  been 
adopted  by  some,  v/hich  would  deprive  the 
world  of  its  Ruler,  and  place  all  things  under 
the  control  of  nature.  They  seek  to  trace  all 
things  back  to  what  they  term  ''natural 
causes,"  and  attribute  every  event  to  natural 
laws.  But  these  men  only  ''darken  counsel  by 
words  without  knowledge."  Laws  of  nature ! 
What  are  they  ?  Or  how  can  they  act  to  pro- 
duce any  result  ?  Law  is  not  and  cannot  be  an 
actor.  It  is  but  a  rule  of  action.  Behind 
these  laws,  which  are  but  principles  of  his 
government,  there  sits  enthroned  in  inscrut- 
able majesty  the  Pov^er  that  moves  and  con- 


THE  HOME  I^ISSION   STATESMAN  93 

trols  the  world,  and  that  power  is  God.  The 
literal  import  of  our  Saviour's  words  is  true: 
''God  clothes  the  grass  of  the  field."  God  ex- 
pands every  leaf,  opens  every  flower,  breathes 
in  every  wind,  sends  the  genial  shower,  fertil- 
izes the  earth,  and  scatters  plenty  over  a  smil- 
ing land — 

"Warms  in  the  sun,  refreshes  in  the  breeze, 
Glows  in  the  stars,  and  blossoms  in  the  trees, 
Lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent, 
Spreads  undivided,  operates  unspent." 

That  religion,  if  such  it  may  be  called, 
which  deifies  nature,  is  worse  than  heathenism. 
The  nations  of  antiquity  worshiped  gods 
whom  their  imaginations  invested  with  life 
and  power  of  action.  They  were  believed  to 
interest  themselves  in  the  affairs  of  men,  and 
preside  over  the  destinies  of  nations.  They 
were  worshiped  under  the  idea  that  they  had 
the  power  to  assist  the  suppliant.  But  the 
man  who  trusts  to  nature  has  a  dull,  bUnd, 
dead  god,  which  can  ''neither  see,  nor  hear, 
nor  deliver." 

If  God  governs  the  world,  then  his  hand  is 
in  this  war  in  which  we  are  engaged.  It  mat- 
ters not  that  the  wickedness  of  man  brought 
it  upon  us,  that  it  was  caused  by  the  mad 
attempts  of  fanaticism  to  deprive  us  of  our 


94  ISAAC  TAYLOR  TICHENOR 

rights,  overthrow  our  institutions,  and  im- 
pose upon  us  a  yoke  which,  as  freemen,  we 
had  resolved  never  to  bear.  This  fact  is  by 
no  means  inconsistent  with  the  truth  asserted. 
Speaking  of  the  crucifixion  of  the  Son  of  God, 
Peter  says,  "Him  being  deHvered  by  the  de- 
terminate counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God, 
ye  have  taken,  and  by  wicked  hands  have  cru- 
cified and  slain."  God  avows  himself  the 
author  of  calamities  that  befall  nations. 
"Shall  there  be  evil  in  a  city"  (evil  in  the 
sense  of  afifliction)  "and  the  Lord  hath  not 
done  it?"  "Come,  behold  the  works  of  the 
Lord,  what  desolation  he  hath  made  in  the 
earth."  The  eye  of  the  Omniscient  and  the 
arm  of  the  Almighty  are  over  the  earth.  He 
makes  these  swelling  waves  of  sinful  pride 
and  passion  the  tide  on  which  rides  the  great 
ark  of  his  mercy  and  his  truth  to  that  Ararat 
around  which  shall  spread  a  new  world, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  While  the 
storm-cloud  sweeps  over  our  land,  let  us  re- 
member that  God  rides  upon  the  wings  of  the 
tempest,  and  subjects  it  to  his  will.  God  in 
his  own  way  will  save  our  Southland. 

n.  The  Purposes  for  Which  God  Afflicts 
a  Nation. — The  Scriptures  disclose  two  pur- 
poses for  which  God  visits  suffering  upon 
the  nations  of  the  earth.     First,  punishment 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  9? 

for  sin.  Second,  development  of  national 
character  and  resources,  so  as  to  qualify  a 
people  for  some  high  and  holy  mission  which 
he  designs  to  commit  to  their  trust. 

On  the  first  of  these  I  need  not  enlarge. 
The  Bible  and  the  history  of  the  world  are 
too  full  of  the  evidences  of  its  truth  to  have 
permitted  you  to  overlook  it.  The  other, 
though  not  as  apparent  a  truth,  is  as  much 
a  lesson  of  the  past.  When  God  wanted  a 
man  for  the  ruler  of  Egypt,  that  the  patriarch 
and  his  family  might  find  there  a  refuge  from 
famine,  he  led  Joseph  to  the  seat  of  power 
not  with  the  pomp  of  princes,  or  the  triumphs 
of  a  conqueror,  but  in  the  chains  of  a  slave, 
and  through  the  depths  of  a  dungeon.  When 
God  wanted  a  king  for  Israel,  "a  man  after 
his  own  heart,"  he  brought  David  to  the 
throne  through  those  long  years  of  exile, 
when  he  was  hunted  by  Saul  "as  a  partridge 
upon  the  mountains."  In  those  dark  and 
dreary  days,  David  learned  lessons  of  the 
wickedness  of  oppression,  of  the  necessity  of 
justice  in  a  ruler,  of  sym.pathy  with  the 
suffering,  which  all  the  splendors  of  royalty, 
nor  the  triumphs  of  his  arms,  ever  eradicated 
from  his  heart.  When  God  gave  the  world 
a  Saviour,  though  it  was  his  own  Son,  yet 
"learned    he    obedience    through    the    things 


96  ISAAC   TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

which  he  suffered,"  and  the  All- Wise  "made 
the  Captain  of  our  salvation  perfect  through 
suffering."  God's  mercy  gave  his  Son  a  ran- 
som for  guilty  men,  but  God's  wisdom  brings 
them  to  his  promised  glory  through  great 
tribulation.  One  of  the  strangest  announce- 
ments made  in  the  Bible  is  made  in  God's 
promise  to  Abraham,  "Know  of  a  surety  that 
thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger  in  a  land  that  is 
not  theirs,  and  shall  serve  them,  and  they 
shall  afflict  them  four  hundred  years,  and 
also  that  nation  whom  they  shall  serve  I  will 
judge;  and  afterwards  they  shall  come  out 
with  great  substance."  This  was  said  of 
those  whom  God  had  promised  to  make  a 
blessing  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  By 
slavery  the  Israelites  were  elevated  from  the 
position  of  wandering  herdsmen  to  be  a  nation 
possessed  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences  known 
to  the  most  civilized  people  of  that  day,  and 
were  fitted  to  receive  the  oracles  of  God,  and 
be  the  light-bearers  of  the  world. 

One  or  both  of  these  purposes  God  has  in 
view  in  permitting  the  calamities  of  war  to 
scourge  this  people.  Peace  will  not  come 
until  his  design  shall  have  been  fully  accom- 
plished. Taking  this  view  of  the  subject,  I 
ask,  are  we  prepared  for  peace?  Have  we  yet 
repented  of  our  sins  and  reformed  our  lives, 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  97 

SO  that  God  as  the  judge  of  the  nations  can 
turn  away  from  us  the  rod  of  his  anger  ? 

I.  One  of  the  most  crying  of  our  national 
sins  is  the  covetousness  of  our  people.  In  the 
view  of  many,  covetousness  is  associated  only 
with  extortion,  niggardly  avarice,  or  miserly 
practices.  But  the  Saviour  teaches  us  a  differ- 
ent doctrine.  "Take  heed,"  he  said,  "and 
beware  of  covetousness."  To  enforce  this 
teaching  he  spake  a  parable  to  his  audience : 
"The  ground  of  a  certain  rich  man  brought 
forth  plentifully,  and  he  thought  within  him- 
self, saying.  What  shall  I  do  because  I  have 
no  room  where  to  bestow  niy  fruits?  and  he 
said,  This  will  I  do :  I  will  pull  down  my 
barns  and  build  greater,  and  there  will  I 
bestow  all  my  fruits  and  my  goods,  and  I 
will  say  to  my  soul,  Soul  thou  hast  much 
goods  laid  up  for  many  years,  take  thine 
ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry;  but  God  said 
unto  him,  Thou  fool,  this  night  shall  thy  soul 
be  required  of  thee."  Observe,  if  you  will, 
that  this  man's  riches  were  not  the  result  of 
fraud  or  dishonesty.  They  were  not  obtained 
by  some  questionable  speculation ;  nothing 
dishonest  or  dishonorable  is  laid  to  his  charge. 
The  blessing  of  God  upon  his  labor,  the  ample 
yield  of  the  honest  soil,  brought  him  his 
abundance.  His  covetousness  manifests  itself 
7 


98  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

not  in  the  manner  in  which  he  obtained  his 
wealth,  but  in  the  use  he  proposed  to  make 
of  it.  He  had  obtained  his  competency  and 
now  proposed  to  retire  from  business  and 
enjoy  the  cool  shadows  of  the  evening  of  life. 
Are  not  the  vast  majority  of  our  people  as 
open  to  the  charge  of  covetousness  as  he? 
Nay,  is  not  the  man  who  indulges  the  pur- 
pose of  ceasing  to  delve  and  toil  for  money 
regarded  as  an  example  of  moderation  among 
his  fellowmen?  Yet  this  is  the  man  selected 
by  the  Saviour  as  an  illustration  of  covetous- 
ness, and  pronounced  a  fool  by  the  Judge  of 
the  earth.  He  had  no  purpose  in  the  use  of 
his  money  beyond  his  own  selfish  gratifica- 
tion. It  was  covetousness  because  it  was 
selfishness. 

What  change  has  the  war  produced  on  our 
people  in  this  respect?  Have  we  grown  less 
covetous,  less  grasping,  less  selfish?  Who 
does  not  know  that  in  many  of  our  people  it 
has  developed  a  thirst  for  gain,  a  spirit  of 
speculation  and  extortion  which  is  a  reproach 
to  our  land.  Men  have  sought  to  monopolize 
articles  of  prime  necessity,  and  by  withhold- 
ing them  from  market  to  enhance  their  price, 
and  fatten  themselves  upon  the  sufferings  of 
their  country.  They  have  attempted  to  coin 
into  money  the  groans  and  tears  of  the  wives 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  99 

and  children  of  your  soldiers,  and  of  the  wid- 
ows and  orphans  of  those  who  have  died  in 
freedom's  holy  cause.  If  God  is  chastizing 
us  for  our  covetousness,  surely  we  are  not 
yet  prepared  for  the  blessings  of  peace. 

2.  Another  of  our  national  sins  has  been 
our  proud  and  boastful  self-reliance.  At  the 
commencement  of  this  struggle  we  had  a  vain 
confidence  in  our  national  strength ;  we  placed 
a  high  estimate  on  the  valor  of  our  people, 
and  held  in  contempt  the  martial  qualities  of 
our  foes.  We  expected  no  defeat,  and  thought 
that  nothing  but  victory  could  await  us  on 
any  battlefield.  We  confidently  believed  that 
our  agricultural  products  in  which  the  world 
is  so  much  interested  would  bring  us  recog- 
nition by  the  nations  of  the  earth,  defeat  the 
purpose  of  our  enemies  to  blockade  our  coasts, 
and  insure  our  independence.  Cotton  was 
our  hope.  Cotton  was  not  only  our  king,  but 
it  was  enthroned  the  god  of  our  confidence, 
and  worshiped  as  our  national  deliverer.  Our 
trust  has  been  disappointed,  our  idol  has  fallen 
like  Dagon  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord.  After 
two  years  of  this  terrible  war,  in  which  this 
appeal  to  arms  has  been  vindicated  by  many 
victories,  we  have  yet  to  receive  the  first  hand 
of  welcome  to  a  place  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth.     Our  ports   have  been  blockaded 


100  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

in  a  manner  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations. 
Our  enemies  have  been  permitted  to  wage  a 
brutal  warfare  against  unarmed  citizens  and 
helpless  women  and  children.  Burning  and 
plunder,  and  outrages  of  every  character, 
even  to  the  murder  of  helpless  innocence,  have 
marked  the  track  of  their  vandal  hordes.  The 
people  of  the  civilized  world  denounce  these 
atrocities,  but  the  governments  of  the  v/orld 
have  uttered  no  word  of  remonstrance.  We 
have  been  shut  up  to  the  necessity  of  relying 
upon  our  own  resources.  A  fresh  appeal  to 
arms  and  to  the  God  of  Hosts  is  our  only 
hope. 

It  needs  only  the  proper  spirit  on  the  part 
of  our  people  in  order  to  make  this  a  blessing 
rather  than  an  evil.  The  time  is  past  when 
God  will  permit  the  nations  of  the  earth  to 
ignore  him.  For  centuries  the  governments 
of  Christendom  have  been  more  godless  than 
the  heathen  empires  of  antiquity.  They  con- 
sulted the  will  of  their  imaginary  gods  in  the 
affairs  of  state.  Egypt,  Babylon,  Greece,  and 
Rome  sent  forth  their  thronging  legions  in 
obedience  to  the  will  of  their  gods,  or  re- 
frained from  their  enterprise  of  conquest  and 
blood  when  that  will  seemed  averse.  But  na- 
tions professing  to  be  Christians  have  made 
war  for  the  most  unholy  purposes,  and  with- 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  101 

out  the  slightest  reference  to  the  will  of  God. 
Europe  has  again  and  again  been  deluged 
with  blood  by  kings  professing  Christianity, 
when  ''God  was  not  in  all  their  thoughts." 
England  made  war  upon  China  because  she 
would  not  consent  to  be  drugged  and  brutal- 
ized with  her  opium.  The  United  States 
formed  a  constitution,  after  a  war  in  which 
God's  hand  had  been  almost  as  manifest  in 
their  deliverance  as  though  he  had  led  them 
with  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire 
by  night ;  made  no  mention  of  the  name  of 
God,  had  no  recognition  of  his  existence.  The 
times  of  this  ignorance  God  may  have  winked 
at,  but  the  day  has  come  when  he  will  vindi- 
cate his  long  ignored  right  as  Sovereign  of 
the  world.  It  is  an  evidence  of  his  merciful 
designs  to  us,  that  he  is  breaking  down  the 
bulwarks  of  self-confidence,  and  saying  to  us 
in  thunder  tones:  'Tut  not  your  trust  in 
princes."  Are  we  ready  to  turn  our  hearts  to 
him?  I  fear  we  are  not.  When  Vicksburg 
surrendered,  and  the  campaign  into  Pennsyl- 
vania disappointed  our  hopes,  what  was  the 
effect  upon  our  people?  There  was  universal 
gloom,  and  with  some  the  feeling  that  all 
was  lost.  But  was  there  more  prayer,  greater 
reliance  on  the  Most  High?  As  dangers 
thickened  around  us,  was  there  a  nearer  ap- 


102  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

proach  to  Him  who  can  save  by  many  or  by 
few,  and  who  can  make  the  very  successes  of 
our  foes  the  means  of  our  triumphs?  Alas! 
we  look  for  these  things  in  vain. 

3.  Other  sins  of  our  people  demand  con- 
sideration, and  call  for  repentance,  but  time 
only  permits  to  mention,  not  to  dwell  upon 
them.  We  have  failed  to  discharge  our  duties 
to  our  slaves.  I  entertain  no  doubt  that  slav- 
ery is  right,  but  there  are  abuses  of  it  which 
ought  to  be  corrected.  Marriage  is  a  divine 
institution,  and  yet  marriage  exists  among 
our  slaves  dependent  upon  the  will  of  the 
master.  "What  God  has  joined  together  let 
no  man  put  asunder,"  yet  this  tie  is  subject 
to  the  passion,  caprice,  or  avarice  of  their 
owners.  The  law  gives  the  husband  and  the 
father  no  protection  in  this  relation.  The  re- 
morseless creditor  may  avail  himself  of  the 
power  of  the  law  to  separate  husband  and 
wife,  parent  and  child.  This  is  an  evil  of  no 
minor  magnitude,  and  one  which  demands  an 
immediate  remedy.  Too  little  attention  has 
been  paid  to  their  moral  and  religious  culture. 
By  their  labor  our  fields  have  been  made 
white  with  abundant  harvests.  The  wealth 
they  have  produced  has  been  spent  with  lavish 
hands,  while  scarcely  a  pittance  has  been 
given  to  furnish  them  with  the  bread  of  life. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  103 

We  have  sinned  by  abusing  our  liberties. 
In  the  extent  and  bitterness  of  party  spirit, 
in  the  choice  of  men  to  be  our  rulers  having 
but  slight  regard  for  proper  qualification,  in 
the  manner  in  which  our  popular  elections 
have  been  conducted,  pandering  to  the  lowest 
passions  and  appetites  of  depraved  humanity, 
to  succeed  in  electing  the  candidates  of  our 
party,  in  Sabbath  breaking,  setting  our  busi- 
ness and  our  pleasures  above  the  law  of  God ; 
in  all  these  ways  we  have  sinned  against  the 
Most  High.  Until  he  can  see  penitence  in 
our  hearts  and  reformation  in  our  lives,  we 
cannot  hope  for  the  removal  of  the  scourge, 
or  for  the  dawning  of  the  day  of  peace. 

4.  But  it  may  be  that  God  has  for  the 
South  a  world  mission,  and  that  by  these 
sufferings  he  is  preparing  them  for  the  trust. 
This  I  firmly  believe  to  be  the  great  purpose 
he  has  in  view.  We  are  now  passing  through 
the  refining  processes  of  a  people  whom  God 
would  use  to  glorify  his  name  on  the  earth. 
By  suffering  he  will  purify  and  develop  and 
elevate.  In  the  midst  of  this  great  storm 
that  is  beating  about  us,  I  have  no  vision  that 
can  pierce  these  black  clouds  and  tell  you  what 
God  means  by  it  all.  But  I  confidently  be- 
lieve that  in  leading  us  through  this  fiery  trial 
God  is  preparing  a  chosen  people  for  a  great 


104  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

mission.  He  wants  a  people  purified,  a  people 
with  a  proper  understanding  and  regard  for 
all  human  rights ;  he  wants  a  people,  above 
all  things,  who  will  set  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  good  of  the  race  above  all  self-centering 
ambitions.  Are  we  ready  for  so  high  and 
holy  a  trust?  Are  we  prepared  for  so  great 
a  distinction?  God  speed  the  day  when  we 
can  answer  his  call,  obey  his  command,  and 
glorify  his  name  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

III.  The  Call  for  Humiliation  and  Prayer 
Before  the  God  of  Nations. — If  these  things 
be  true  we  ought  this  day  to  bow  ourselves  in 
deep  humiliation  before  our  Maker,  and  for 
ourselves  and  our  people  ask  of  him  who  is 
exalted  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour  the  forgiveness 
for  all  our  sins.  This  we  need  to  do  in  heart- 
searching  penitence.  While  the  cloud  of  his 
wrath  impends  over  us  we  ought  never  cease 
to  pray.  While  our  enemies  are  invading  our 
territory,  enslaving  our  people,  destroying  our 
property,  and  threatening  our  subjugation,  we 
ought  never  to  forget  that  our  only  hope  for 
deliverance  lies  in  the  interposition  of  his 
hand,  "to  whom  belongeth  all  the  shields  of 
the  earth."  Let  prayer  continually  ascend 
from  all  our  sanctuaries,  and  from  the  temple 
of  every  heart,  "until  he  shall  make  our  wars 
to  cease,  breaking  the  bow,  cutting  the  spear 


THE    HOMR    MISSION    STATESMAN  105 

in    sunder,    and    burning-    the    chariot    in    the 
fire." 

Some  men  will  tell  you  that  prayer  will 
avail  little  against  the  hosts  of  our  enemies, 
and  sneering  at  its  power,  assert  that  "Provi- 
dence always  favors  the  heavy  battalions."  It 
is  an  infidel  opinion,  branded  with  falsehood 
both  by  the  word  of  God  and  the  history  of 
the  past.  God  says,  "The  horse  is  prepared 
against  the  day  of  battle,  but  victory  is  of  the 
Lord."  God  says,  "The  race  is  not  to  the 
swift  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong."  Who  is 
so  impious  as  to  rise  up  and  contradict  his 
Maker?  History  confirms  the  word  of  the 
Most  High.  Was  the  battle  to  the  strong 
when  Cyrus  overthrew  the  proud  city  and 
empire  of  Babylon,  and  established  his  throne 
upon  its  ruins?  Was  the  battle  to  the  strong 
when  Xerxes  invaded  Greece  and  met  with 
overwhelming  defeat?  Did  PrGvidence  favor 
the  heavy  battalions  when  Bonaparte  invaded 
Russia,  and  breaking  its  power,  was  himself 
broken  by  the  hand  of  God?  Did  Providence 
favor  the  heavy  battalions  when,  in  the  revo- 
lution of  our  fathers,  the  ships  of  the  strongest 
power  of  the  world  shaded  our  coast,  and 
when  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Savannah 
the  continent  trembled  under  the  tread  of  hig 
legions?     Has  Providence  favored  the  heavy 


106  ISAAC   TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

battalions  during  this  struggle  for  independ- 
ence? Let  Bethel  and  Manassas,  Shiloh  and 
Chancellorsville  answer.  I  rejoice  to  know 
that  many  who  control  our  civil  and  military 
affairs  believe  in  prayer.  From  our  assem- 
blage here  today  at  the  request  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  our  Confederacy,  it  is  evident 
that  he  trusts  in  that  God  who  "heareth 
prayer."  The  gallant  and  noble  general  who 
leads  our  army  in  Virginia  is  a  man  of  prayer. 
He  whose  name  was  a  tower  of  strength,  the 
watchword  of  victory,  and  who  fought  but  to 
conquer,  and  over  whose  fall  the  hearts  of 
this  people  still  bleed  in  sorrow,  was  pre- 
eminently a  man  of  prayer.  Nor  are  many 
of  our  soldiers  less  imbued  with  the  spirit 
which  relies  upon  God  for  victory.  Pardon 
me  for  relating  an  incident  which  illustrates 
this  point.  During  one  of  the  bloodiest  bat- 
tles of  the  war,  in  the  change  of  position 
incident  to  great  conflicts,  a  regiment  from 
our  own  State  was  thrown  forward  upon  the 
masses  of  the  enemy  into  a  position  which  it 
was  victory  to  hold,  defeat  to  lose.  Soon  the 
converging  fire  of  five  times  their  number 
poured  its  leaden  storm  upon  them.  Those 
untried  soldiers,  never  before  upon  a  field  of 
battle,  staggered  for  a  moment,  as  the  strong 
ship  staggers  when  smitten  by  the  first  breath 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN         107 

of  the  tempest.  Then  there  arose  up  one  who 
reminded  them  that  it  was  Sunday;  that  at 
that  very  hour  their  fathers  and  mothers  and 
wives  and  brothers  and  sisters  were  gathered 
in  the  sanctuaries  of  our  land  praying  to  God 
for  them.  They  caught  the  inspiration  of  the 
thought,  every  eye  brightened,  every  bosom 
heaved  with  emotion,  and  closing  up  their 
thinned  and  bleeding  ranks,  they  stood  like 
a  wall  of  adamant  against  the  surging  masses 
of  the  foe,  until  the  tide  of  war  rolled  back 
before  them,  and  victory  was  won !  It  was 
the  thought  that  prayer  was  then  ascending 
for  them  that  nerved  their  arms,  and  made 
them  heroes  in  that  fearful  hour. 

Gentlemen,  members  of  the  Legislature  of 
the  State  of  Alabama,  it  well  becomes  you  to 
cultivate  this  spirit  of  prayer,  and  to  bow  this 
day  before  the  Lord  of  Hosts  v/ith  reverence 
and  godly  fear.  Your  position  gives  you  in- 
fluence over  the  minds  of  the  people.  They 
will  Hsten  to  your  words  and  follow  your 
example ;  let  that  example  lead  them  in  paths 
of  piety  and  uprightness.  You  are  convened 
by  the  Executive  at  a  crisis  in  the  affairs  of 
our  State  and  of  our  country.  Much  of  the 
future  history  of  Alabama,  of  the  security  and 
happiness  of  our  people,  depends  upon  your 
acts.     It  is  no  disparagement  to  your  intelli- 


108  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

gence  to  urge  you  in  this  perilous  hour  to 
seek  wisdom  of  Him  who  "giveth  hberally  to 
all  men  and  upbraideth  not;"  to  seek  by 
fervent  prayer  for  divine  guidance  in  the  dis- 
charge of  your  responsible  duties.  The  influ- 
ence of  your  actions  will  live  through  all 
coming  generations.  You  will  meet  it  at  the 
bar  of  God!  Ask  his  aid  that  you  may  not 
blush  to  confront  it  before  the  "]ndge  of  quick 
and  dead." 

With  this  spirit  of  reliance  upon  your  God 
cherished  in  your  hearts,  and  having  dis- 
charged your  duty  to  your  country,  you  can 
return  home  with  the  approval  of  your  con- 
sciences, and  calmly  await  that  hour  when  the 
sun  of  peace  shall  rise  upon  a  land  of  freedom, 
*1ike  another  morn  risen  on  mid-noon !"  May 
you  live  long  and  enjoy  the  blessings  of  that 
day. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  109 


n. 
OUR  COUNTRY;  ITS  RESOURCES  AND 
OPPORTUNITY. 

(A  paper  prepared  in  1900,  the  year  closing  his 
work  as  Secretary  of  the  Home  Mission  Board.) 


AN  old   man  whose  mind   dwells   much 
upon  the  future  of  his  people  will  be 
*     pardoned  if  sometimes  he  sees  visions 
and    dreams    dreams.      In   this    brief 
document  I  make  no  pretensions  to  the  gift 
of  prophecy,  and  no  attempt  at  the  interpreta- 
tion  of   the    Scripture   prophecies.     What    I 
have  to  say  is  the  result  of  long  and  patient 
thought  on  the  world's  present  conditions,  and 
the  potent  and  far-reaching  influences  that  are 
shaping   its    destiny.      So   the    fabric    of    my 
dreaming  is  something  more  than  idle  fancy. 
As  the  servant  of  the  Prophet  on  Carmel's 
Height  reported  to  his  master  that  he  saw  a 
cloud  the  size  of  a  human  hand  rising  from 
the  sea,  and  as  it  grew  and  those  long  cloud 
fingers,  the  precursors  of  the  coming  storm, 
stretching    from    the    far-off   horizon   to   the 
zenith,  assured  him  of  the  coming  rain,  so  it 
has  seemed  to  me  that  far-reaching  influences 
now  stretching  across  our  political  skies  be- 


110  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

token  coming  events  that  may  darken  our 
heavens  into  midnight  gloom,  or  bring  the 
showers  that  water  the  furrows  of  our  fields 
and  make  them  fruitful  with  a  harvest  of 
blessing.  The  study  of  these  things  has  im- 
bued me  with  the  profound  conviction  that 
the  crisis  of  the  ages  is  upon  us.  Within  the 
first  half  of  the  twentieth  century,  probably 
within  the  first  three  decades,  the  world  will 
be  either  Christian  or  anti-Christian.  Either 
Christ  shall  be  enthroned  over  the  nations,  or 
stimulated  by  its  selfishness,  its  lust  of  power 
and  its  greed  of  gold,  the  recreant  nations  will 
bow  at  Moloch's  altar  and  satiate  the  greedy 
maw  of  death  with  their  offered  feast  of 
blood.  In  this  brief  portraiture  of  the  present 
and  the  probabiHties  of  the  future,  permit  me 
to  say  that  this  country  of  ours  is  to  be  the 
most  gigantic  figure  that  by  its  overmastering 
power  will  shape  the  destinies  of  the  nations. 
Far  greater  than  Babylon,  or  Assyria,  or 
Egypt,  or  Greece,  or  Rome,  or  all  of  these 
combined,  will  be  the  power  of  her  control 
to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth. 

Let  us  take  a  dispassionate  view  of  her  past 
and  her  present,  of  her  rapid  rise  and  the 
elements  of  her  gigantic  strength,  and  then 
looking  down  her  pathway  with  sober  judg- 
ment, answer  to  ourselves  the  question,  what 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  111 

she  will  be  materially,  intellectually,  and  reli- 
giously; and  how  vast  will  be  her  dominion 
over  the  nations  when  this  opening  century 
shall  have  run  half  its  course.  On  its  physical 
side  the  elements  of  a  nation's  power  are, 
(i)  the  number  of  her  people,  (2)  her  mate- 
rial resources,  (3)  her  developed  wealth,  (4) 
her  inventive  skill,  and  (5)  her  geographical 
position. 

OUR  POPULATION. 

No  nation  of  modern,  or  perhaps  of  ancient 
times,  has  ever  increased  in  population  with 
such  rapidity  as  our  own.  We  go  back  to  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  find  that 
twenty-eight  millions  of  people  inhabited  this 
land.  In  the  next  ten  years,  when  the  civil 
war  began,  they  numbered  thirty-one  millions. 
In  1870,  thirty-eight  millions;  in  1880,  fifty- 
one  millions ;  in  1890,  sixty-four  millions ;  in 
1900,  seventy-seven  millions.  During  the 
nineteenth  century  she  added  more  than 
seventy  millions  of  people  to  her  population. 
If  the  same  ratio  of  increase  shall  continue 
until  the  middle  of  the  twentieth  century,  she 
will  have  in  1950  a  hundred  and  ninety-five 
millions.  But  reduce  this  ratio  and  let  us 
suppose  that  at  the  close  of  the  first  half  of 
the  century  she  have  only  one  hundred  and 


112  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

fifty  millions  of  people — how  incalculable  will 
be  their  power! 

Their  physical  power  as  a  nation  is  not 
limited  now  simply  to  their  numbers.  The 
variety  and  the  vastness  of  their  machinery 
multiplies  almost  beyond  computation  their 
capacity  for  work.  With  these  appliances 
this  people  are  now  capable  of  doing  more 
than  all  the  world  besides,  laboring  with  their 
hands.  It  may  be  safely  estimated  that  the 
average  man  in  this  country,  in  consequence 
of  the  increased  facilities  afforded  him  during 
the  period  of  his  manhood,  can  do  twice  the 
work  the  same  man  could  have  done  thirty 
years  ago.  If  this  ratio  of  increasing  power 
shall  continue  the  same  for  the  next  half  cen- 
tury, then  the  average  man  of  that  generation 
will  be  able  to  do  four  times  as  much  as  the 
average  man  of  this  generation,  so  that  the 
anticipated  population  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  will  become  equal  in  productive 
power  to  over  five  hundred  millions  of  the 
present  generation.  What  sweep  of  thought 
or  fancy  can  compass  the  stupendous  power 
such  a  people  will  possess  ?  As  we  think  of  it, 
and  strive  to  hold  our  sober  judgment  within 
the  passionless  limits  of  mathematical  exacti- 
tude, in  spite  of  our  rigid  restriction,  we  find 
our  conclusion  wearing  the  air  of  romance. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN         113 
OUR   MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

The  most  important  material  resources  that 
render  a  nation  independent  of  all  other  lands 
and  people,  are  the  ability  to  supply  food  and 
raiment  for  themselves,  the  possession  of  ade- 
quate stores  of  minerals  and  metals,  and  un- 
failing sources  of  water  power.  To  these 
must  also  be  added  the  capital  and  genius 
necessar}'  for  the  development  of  such  re- 
sources. Let  it  be  noted  that  this  country 
of  ours  is  the  only  great  nation  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  that  combines  all  these  elements  of 
power.  England,  from  whose  shores  have 
flowed  the  great  streams  of  commerce,  is  lack- 
ing both  in  supplies  of  food  and  clothing  for 
her  people.  Her  mines  of  coal  and  iron  are 
rapidly  becoming  exhausted.  She  has  been 
searching  the  world  for  supplies  of  ore  to 
feed  her  furnaces.  She  has  seen  iron  and 
steel  transported  across  the  Atlantic,  laid  upon 
the  wharves  of  her  great  cities,  and  sold  for 
a  price  with  which  her  ironmasters  could  not 
compete.  She  has  lived  to  see  the  time  when 
the  old  proverb  of  "carrying  coal  to  New- 
castle" has  ceased  to  have  its  truth  or  signifi- 
cance, and  the  coals  of  distant  lands  are 
bought  to  supply  her  own  demands.  Close 
the  gates  of  her  commerce,  and  a  single  year 
will  not  have  passed  before  her  famished  peo- 


114  ISAAC   TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

pie  will  cry  for  bread.  With  all  her  accumu- 
lated wealth  and  her  commerce  sweeping  old 
ocean's  realms  to  every  shore,  she  at  last  finds 
herself  surpassed  in  productive  power,  and 
falling  behind  in  her  race  for  the  trade  of  the 
world.  Germany,  her  great  rival,  her  equal 
in  skill,  her  superior  in  population  and  terri- 
tory, is  yet  lacking  in  the  plentifulness  of  her 
raw  materials  and  in  the  food  necessary  to 
supply  her  people.  France,  with  a  skill  per- 
haps superior  to  either,  and  better  supplied 
with  food,  has  scantier  supplies  of  coal,  or  of 
minerals  and  metallic  ores.  Only  in  America 
do  we  find  that  breadth  of  area,  that  variety 
of  soil,  climate,  and  production;  those  far- 
reaching  square  miles  of  coal,  that  bountiful 
supply  of  minerals  and  ores  of  the  baser  and 
the  more  precious  metals,  the  wealth  of  field 
and  forest,  the  incalculable  power  of  its 
streams  descending  from  its  mountains  to  the 
sea,  which,  when  all  is  combined,  make  it  the 
only  land  on  whose  continental  breadth  may 
be  built  enterprises  grand  as  the  mountains 
and  rivers  that  divide  her  plains. 

OUR  DEVELOPING   WEALTH. 

No  country  has  ever  increased  in  wealth 
so  rapidly  as  our  own  has  done  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century.     In  1 880  it 


THE  MOMK   MISSION    STATESMAN        115 

aggregated  fifty-four  billions,  slightly  sur- 
passing that  of  England,  up  to  that  time  justly 
reported  as  being  the  richest  nation  on  the 
globe.  Our  present  wealth  (in  1900)  is  not 
less  than  eighty-four  billions  of  dollars.  Our 
increase  for  the  past  twenty  years  has  been 
at  the  average  rate  of  a  billion  and  a  half  each 
year.  Nor  need  we  fear  that  this  ratio  of 
increase  will  be  diminished  during  the  years 
of  the  incoming  centur}-.  Even  now  the  bal- 
ance of  trade  is  pouring  into  the  lap  of  the 
nation  six  hundred  millions  of  dollars  every 
year.  With  the  rapidly  increasing  demand 
of  the  world  for  the  commodities  we  can  most 
cheaply  supply,  there  must  come  the  regular 
increase  in  their  production.  Four-fifths  of 
the  iron  exported  last  year  to  foreign  lands 
was  shipped  from  Birmingham,  Alabama. 
There  the  marvelous  juxtaposition  of  coal 
and  iron  ore  and  limestone,  and  all  the  facili- 
ties for  the  production  of  iron  and  steel,  en- 
abled the  ironmasters  of  Alabama  to  produce 
them  more  cheaply  than  is  done  in  any  other 
part  of  the  globe.  The  same  natural  facilities 
enjoyed  by  this  spot  of  worldwide  fame  are 
shared  by  that  long  stretch  of  mountains  that 
stand  on  either  side  of  the  great  limestone 
valley  that  extends  from  the  Potomac  to  the 
Alabama.     With  beds  of  iron  ore  of  varying 


116  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

kinds,  but  all  of  finest  quality,  filling  the 
mountains  for  eight  hundred  miles  on  the 
southeast  side  of  the  valley,  and  with  coal  in 
inexhaustible  quantities  spreading  for  an  equal 
distance  on  the  other  side,  and  under-running 
her  mountain  ridges  until  they  die  away  into 
the  bluegrass  plains  of  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see, this  unrivaled  region  presents  conditions 
for  the  manufacture  of  iron  unequaled  on  the 
globe.  There  Vv^ill  come  a  time  in  the  not  dis- 
tant future  when  these  vast  resources  will  be 
utilized  for  the  benefit  of  our  race.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  per  capita  use  of  iron  makes 
the  degree  of  a  people's  civilization.  The 
great  empire  of  China  has  an  area  larger  than 
that  of  the  United  States,  and  a  population 
five  times  as  great.  She  is  practically  without 
railroads,  and  without  any  other  adequate 
facilities  for  transportation  except  her  rivers. 
If  this  country,  with  her  three  millions  of 
square  miles  and  seventy-five  millions  of  peo- 
ple, find  two  hundred  thousand  miles  of  rail- 
road inadequate  to  her  need,  how  many  miles 
will  be  required  for  China's  vast  extended 
territory  and  her  four  hundred  millions  of 
people  ?  If  they  are  ever  built,  and  built  they 
must  be,  because  the  world  of  commerce  de- 
mands it,  from  our  country  must  go  those 
vast   supplies   needed  for  their   construction. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN         117 

Vast  as  are  all  the  resources  of  this  Appala- 
chian Range,  when  we  confront  the  problem 
of  China's  future  demands,  we  are  led  to  won- 
der and  to  doubt  whether  these  seemingly 
exhaustless  resources  of  our  country  will  be 
sufficient  to  supply  the  needs  of  that  great 
empire  beyond  the  Pacific. 

Nor  are  the  resources  of  our  soil  less  ade- 
quate to  meet  the  widest  demands  for  food 
and  clothing  than  are  our  mountains  to  girdle 
it  with  bands  of  steel.  It  will  not  be  ques- 
tioned by  any  one  familiar  with  the  facts,  that 
our  agricultural  productions  of  every  kind 
can  by  more  skillful  culture  be  doubled  in 
quantity  without  the  addition  of  a  single  acre. 
Our  great  cotton  crop  of  ten  millions  of  bales 
is  produced  on  twenty-five  millions  of  acres. 
It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  with  careful  culti- 
vation three  bales  of  cotton  can  be  produced 
on  one  acre.  Our  fields  of  grain  average 
scarcely  more  than  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre, 
while  fifty  bushels  of  corn  or  wheat,  by  an 
increase  of  the  farmer's  skill,  can  be  produced 
with  greater  profit  on  the  same  acre.  The 
soil  is  God's  richest  gift  to  our  race.  Its  his- 
tory is  a  marvel  of  the  divine  workmanship. 
In  it  he  has  stored  the  food  for  a  thousand 
generations.  The  finite  mind  cannot  fathom 
the  infinitude  of  the  blessings  which  he  has 


118  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

stored  within  it,  for  no  human  skill  has  on 
a  single  acre  ever  reached  the  confines  of  its 
productive  power.  When  DeSoto  and  his 
followers  in  their  vain  search  for  gold  and 
precious  stones  and  the  fancied  fountain  of 
eternal  youth,  wandered  through  the  far 
stretching  leagues  of  our  Southern  pines,  and 
died  at  last  upon  the  banks  of  the  great  Mis- 
sissippi, had  he  found  all  his  heart  desired — 
mountains  glittering  with  their  wealth  of 
gold,  valleys  covered  with  gems  fit  to  grace 
the  coronets  of  queens — he  would  then  have 
found  nothing  so  rich  in  the  profusion  of  its 
gifts,  or  so  regal  in  its  beneficence,  as  the 
soil  he  trod  with  unheeding  feet. 

The  Scriptures  tell  of  Pharaoh's  dream  of 
the  years  of  plenty  succeeded  by  the  years  of 
famine,  and  of  Joseph's  masterful  statesman- 
ship in  his  provision  to  feed  the  famishing 
nation,  and  render  more  stable  and  enduring 
the  imperial  throne.  Were  this  history  to  be 
repeated  in  these  last  ages,  with  the  world  for 
its  theater,  America  could  produce  and  dis- 
tribute in  the  seven  years  of  plenty  the  corn 
and  wine  and  oil  that  would  satiate  the  hunger 
of  the  nation.  Fifty  years  ago  we  produced 
two  and  a  half  millions  of  bales  of  cotton.  That 
was  sufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  world. 
Now  we  produce  ten  millions  of  bales  of  cot- 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  119 

ton,  and  the  spectre  of  a  cotton  famine  stares 
us  in  the  face.  The  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  fifteen,  twenty,  twenty-five  milHons  of 
bales  will  be  demanded  by  the  wants  of  human 
life,  and  this  land  of  ours  will  not  only  grow 
it,  but  will  convert  it  into  all  the  forms  needed 
to  meet  the  necessities  and  tastes  of  all  the 
world.  Hitherto  England  and  New  England 
have  been  the  great  manufactories  of  our 
cotton.  It  has  been  demonstrated  beyond  all 
question  that  the  best  and  cheapest  place  of 
manufacture  is  by  the  side  of  the  field  where 
it  is  grown.  The  marvelous  facilities  for  this 
manufacture  have  scarcely  dawned  upon  the 
intelligence  of  our  people.  With  supplies  of 
coal  covering  thousands  of  miles  of  our  terri- 
tory there  need  be  no  lack  of  power  to  drive 
all  the  machinery  necessary  to  manufacture 
our  entire  crop.  But  if  an  acre  of  coal  did 
not  exist  in  our  country,  there  is  power 
enough  in  our  rivers  running  idly  to  the  sea 
to  do  the  manufacturing  for  the  world.  Look 
along  these  Appalachian  Ranges  and  see  on 
the  mountain  sides  and  the  elevated  plateaus, 
thousands  of  feet  above  the  plains  below, 
the  birthplace  of  so  many  of  our  great  rivers. 
Count  them  over  and  grasp  their  great  num- 
ber and  the  power  of  their  descending  waters. 
The  Potomac  and  the  James  and  the  Appo- 


120  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

mattox  and  the  Roanoke  and  the  Cape  Fear 
and  the  Catawba  and  the  Santee  and  the 
Savannah  and  the  Oconee  and  the  Ocmulgee 
and  the  Chattahoochee  and  the  Tallapoosa 
and  the  Coosa  and  the  Black  Warrior  and  the 
Tennessee  and  the  Cumberland  and  the  Ken- 
tucky and  the  Big  Sandy  and  the  Mononga- 
hela  and  the  Shenandoah;  see  how  tumbling 
from  their  mountain  heights  they  fall  more 
than  a  thousand  feet  down  to  the  level  of  the 
sea.  Bid  their  collected  waters  call  the  light- 
ning from  above  and  confine  them  where  you 
will,  the  slaves  of  human  will,  to  drive  the 
vast  machinery  that  works  out  its  multiform 
designs.  But  who  can  foresee  or  describe  all 
the  varied  forms  of  helpfulness,  or  all  those 
subtle  and  mysterious  agencies  that  must  at 
last  come  forth  from  the  darkness  in  which 
they  have  so  long  abided  into  the  ken  of 
human  sagacity  and  submit  themselves  tamely 
to  mian's  control.  This  highest  destiny  of  man, 
this  sublime  height,  he  is  attaining  as  though 
borne  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.  Who  shall 
say  Vv^here  is  the  limit  of  his  power?  Who 
shall  oppose  his  onward  progress  to  the  con- 
quest of  the  last  and  mightiest  of  all  of  earth's 
mysterious  agencies,  when  his  Maker  has  bid 
him  subdue  and  control  them  all  ?  Who  shall 
say  how  vast  shall  be  the  fruits  of  his  con- 


THE    HOME   MISSION    STATESMAN         121 

quest,  or  to  how  many  distant  lands  he  shall 
bear  the  spoils  of  his  victory?  Who  can  tell 
how  by  invention's  skillful  art  he  shall  remove 
the  mountain  barriers,  divide  the  continents 
at  his  will,  and  span  the  wide  ocean  with  the 
sublime  structures  of  his  art?  Who  can  tell 
what  sweeping  tides  of  wealth  shall  roll  back 
from  foreign  lands  and  pile  their  glittering 
stores  in  our  great  marts  of  trade?  We  stand 
amazed  in  the  presence  of  thoughts  like  these, 
and  wonder  ceases  only  when  imagination 
passes  the  gateway  of  the  possible  out  into  the 
wide  realms  beyond. 

OUR    INVENTIVE    SKILL. 

In  large  measure  our  developing  wealth  is 
the  fruit  of  our  inventive  skill.  One  of  the 
most  distinguished  scientists  in  this  country 
was  closing  a  lecture  in  which  he  had  thrown 
upon  the  canvas  the  great  converging  facts  of 
science.  He  declared  that  these  facts  which 
presaged  discoveries  and  inventions  were  un- 
unequaled  in  all  the  world.  He  assured  his 
audience  that  the  world  was  standing  upon 
the  verge  of  a  civilization  as  much  grander  in 
its  benefits  to  humanity,  when  compared  with 
that  which  the  most  enlightened  people  now 
enjoy,  as  it  surpasses  the  age  when  the  chief 
element  of  transportation  was  the  slow  mov- 


122  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

ing  OX  or  the  patient  camel,  and  he  experi- 
enced the  hope  that  the  cultured  men  and 
women  who  had  listened  with  such  deep 
interest  to  his  address  would  live  to  see  its 
accomplishment.  The  life  period  of  a  single 
generation  has  wrought  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries, and  by  these  advanced  the  arts  and 
multiplied  the  comforts  of  life,  which  it  would 
take  volumes  to  describe.  Every  discovery 
and  every  invention,  though  it  be  but  a  step 
in  human  progress,  is  in  itself  an  event  of 
immeasurable  power  and  grandeur.  The  ad- 
vance may  seem  to  be  small.  It  may  be  so 
to  the  individual,  but  it  is  sublime  when  the 
world  steps  forward  and  aligns  itself  on  the 
position  of  the  inventor. 

OUR    GEOGRAPHICAL    POSITION. 

The  location  of  this  country  on  the  face  of 
the  globe  is  one  of  its  chief  advantages.  That 
location  insures  its  comparative  safety  from 
attack.  No  nation  would  have  the  hardihood 
to  attempt  an  armed  invasion  of  our  territory. 
We  are  thus  freed  from  the  incubus  of  a  great 
standing  army.  The  millions  of  armed  men 
that  in  Europe  are  required  to  defend  national 
borders,  who  are  removed  from  productive 
industry  and  become  a  tax  upon  the  labors  of 
others,  are  rendered  useless  by  our  geographi- 


THE   HOME   MISSION    STATESMAN         123 

cal  position.  A  study  of  the  configuration  of 
the  continents  will  show  that  there  are  two 
great  natural  trade  centers  of  the  world.  The 
one  is  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Mediterranean 
sea,  and  the  other  on  the  northern  coast  of 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  the  Eastern  Hemis- 
phere, until  comparatively  recent  times,  the 
great  empires  lay  in  close  proximity  to  this 
commercial  center.  From  the  days  of  the 
almost  forgotten  empire  of  the  Hittites,  the 
Babylonians,  the  Persians,  the  Egyptians,  the 
Greeks,  and  Romans  have  all  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  their  great  political  dominions  in 
close  connection  with  this  natural  trade  center 
of  the  world.  It  was  England's  enterprise 
and  power  that  disarranged  the  balance  nature 
had  adjusted,  and  made  London  the  Eastern 
center  of  trade.  So,  political  power  and  influ- 
ence, the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  South, 
the  inflowing  tides  of  foreign  immigration 
settling  in  the  North  and  West,  the  great  war 
between  the  States  that  hurled  the  industries 
and  social  organizations  of  the  South  into  the 
depths  of  poverty  and  humiliation,  with  other 
resulting  influences,  removed  the  trade  center 
of  the  West  from  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi to  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson.  The  time 
will  come  when  these  disarranging  influences 
will  give  way  before  the  pressure  of  natural 


124  ISAAC   TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

conditions  and  commerce  will  swing  to  its 
normal  place,  as  the  needle,  when  freed  from 
disturbing  causes,  swings  back  and  points  to 
the  pole.  There  needs  but  one  thing  to  make 
this  Western  trade  center  the  great  center  for 
the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  everything 
betokens  its  coming.  When  the  Isthmian 
Canal  is  constructed,  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  is  turned  into  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
the  commerce  of  this  country  will  dominate 
all  the  shores  of  this  great  sea.  That  will 
make  our  country,  vv^hich  will  be  the  great 
center  of  the  world's  production,  five  thousand 
miles  nearer  to  Eastern  Asia,  the  center  of 
the  world's  population,  than  any  other  great 
commercial  nation.  This  will  give  us  the  con- 
trol of  the  commerce  of  every  people  and  na- 
tion whose  shores  rest  upon  the  sands  of 
earth's  greatest  sea,  and  the  control  of  that 
commerce  is  the  empire  of  the  world.  Such 
is  the  coming  destiny  of  this  land  of  ours. 
Wliat  shall  be  its  effect  upon  our  national 
prosperity  no  human  mind  can  grasp.  There 
is  but  one  event  in  the  history  of  the  world 
which  furnishes  any  sort  of  comparison  with 
it.  Magnifying  that  as  v/e  may,  and  realizing 
that  for  centuries  it  shaped  the  destinies  of  all 
the  nations,  we  must  still  confess  that  as  great 
as  has  been  its  influence  on  the  progress  of 


THE   HOME  MISSION   STATESMAN        126 

our  race,  it  is  after  all  comparing  small  things 
with  great  ones  when  we  place  it  side  by  side 
with  the  opening  of  the  Pacific  into  the  Gulf 
of  ^Mexico.  The  caravan  trade  of  the  East 
coming  from  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  and 
the  Indus,  across  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates, 
found  its  mart  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Insignificant  as  its  long  train 
of  camels  seem  when  compared  with  the  great 
leviathans  of  the  deep  that  now  thread  the 
ocean's  path,  seeking  ports  on  every  shore, 
those  beasts  of  burden  bore 

"The  wealth  of  Ormus  and  of  Ind 
From  where  the  gorgeous  East  with  richest  hand 
Showers  on  her  kings  barbaric  pearls  and  gold." 

That  trade  built  all  those  proud  cities  that 
glassed  themselves  in  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean.  That  trade  reared  Palmyra 
in  the  wilderness,  and  Alexandria  by  the  Nile, 
and  Sidon  on  her  rocky  slopes,  and  Ephesus 
with  her  temple  to  Diana,  and  Antioch  which 
lives  in  Holy  Writ,  and  Tyre  on  her  island 
home.  That  trade  built  Phcenicia's  ships  and 
spread  the  daring  sails  that,  beyond  the  straits 
of  Gades,  sought  the  snowy  clififs  of  Albion. 
The  fragments  of  their  pov/er  and  glory  are 
yet  the  admiration  of  the  world.  One  auspi- 
cious day  Vasco  de  Gama  turned  the  Cape  of 


126  ISAAC  I^AYLOR  TICHENOIi 

Good  Hope,  and  first  of  all  men  in  modern 
times  saw  the  new  route  to  the  far-off  Indies. 
That  adventurous  deed  changed  the  face  of 
the  globe.  That  trade  which  had  enriched 
every  nation  controlling  it,  forsook  its  ancient 
paths  and  by  a  new  route  sought  the  Western 
world.  Venice  and  Genoa,  the  last  Mediter- 
ranean cities  to  control  it,  were  smitten  as 
though  an  earthquake  had  shaken  their  deep 
foundations,  and  the  retiring  sea  had  left 
them  stranded  on  the  shore.  Attila  was  called 
the  scourge  of  God.  Had  he  with  his  ruth- 
less hordes  sacked  their  palaces,  and  with  the 
torch  brought  their  proud  heads  to  the  dust, 
there  might  still  have  been  hope  for  them. 
But  when  their  trade  had  vanished  they  sat 
solitary  in  the  midst  of  their  marts  of  com- 
merce. It  was  then  that  there  arose  among 
the  nations  a  contest  for  commercial  supre- 
macy. Soon  two  great  rivals  were  left  alone 
to  contest  for  the  riches  of  the  world. 
Amsterdam  and  London  with  fierce  gaze 
looked  at  each  other  across  the  narrow  water 
which  divided  them.  To  the  one  or  the  other 
the  great  prize  must  fall.  When  Admiral 
Blake,  with  the  broom  nailed  to  his  masthead, 
swept  the  Dutch  navy  from  the  sea,  England 
had  won,  and  London  became  the  great  com- 
mercial capital  of  the  world.    From  this  con- 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  127 

test  Sprang  her  invincible  commercial  navy, 
her  great  manufactories,  her  heroic  armies, 
her  wide  dominion,  her  flag  planted  on  every 
continent,  her  military  fortresses  girdling  the 
earth,  and  her  morning  drum-beat  heard 
around  the  world.  That  contest  gave  her 
India,  Australia,  half  of  North  America,  and 
unnumbered  islands  of  the  sea.  The  grandest 
empire  of  the  world,  exceeding  all  the  proud 
nations  of  antiquity,  followed  this  victory  over 
Holland,  and  made  her  merchants  the  princes 
of  the  world.  If  the  camel  drivers  of  the 
East  held  in  their  tawny  hands  the  seed  whose 
fruit  was  the  empire  of  the  world,  what  re- 
sults will  follow  in  our  land,  where  a  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  of  educated  and  enterpris- 
ing people  shall  burden  their  fleets  that  spread 
a  thousand  sails,  and  transport  the  products  of 
their  industry  to  the  five  hundred  millions 
in  the  land  of  the  East  that  await  their 
coming. 

THE    MISSION    OF    THE    ANGLO-SAXON. 

Our  people  trace  back  their  origin  to  the 
old  Aryan  race.  Their  chief  ambition  was  a 
desire  for  land.  From  their  ancestral  homes, 
in  the  morning  twilight  of  the  world,  they 
passed  in  great  tidal  waves  beyond  the  boimd- 
aries  of  their  nationality  and  made  conquest 


128  ISAAC    TAYLOR   TICHENOR 

of  the  nations.  They  poured  through  the 
passes  of  the  Himalayas  down  into  the  tropic 
plains  of  India,  and  there  founded  a  civili- 
zation and  established  an  empire,  whose 
crumbling  ruins,  after  the  surges  of  the  ages 
have  rolled  over  it,  are  memorials  of  its  great- 
ness and  its  power.  They  went  out  into  the 
plains  of  Persia  and  there  sought  to  reproduce 
the  splendors  which  tradition  had  left  them 
of  the  lost  Eden.  In  their  westward  march 
they  trod  under  foot  the  decaying  fragments 
of  the  great  Hittite  empire,  and  sought  luxu- 
rious ease  on  the  sunny  slopes  of  the  great 
Mediterranean.  A  more  hardy  branch  of  the 
stock  entered  Europe,  traversed  the  plains  of 
Russia,  founded  their  rude  but  sturdy  empires 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  from  thence 
they  at  last  swept  over  the  narrow  sea  and 
made  the  British  Island  the  prey  of  their 
savage  strength.  Wherever  they  went  they 
carried  in  their  hearts  the  spirit  of  conquest, 
and  in  their  hands  sv/ords  dripping  vvdth  the 
blood  of  their  fellowmen.  They  adorned  the 
rude  halls  of  their  palaces  with  trophies  of 
their  savage  triumph,  and  drank  deep  draughts 
of  intoxication  from  the  skulls  of  their  slaugh- 
tered enemies.  We  are  the  descendants  of 
this  race,  inheriting  their  spirit  of  enterprise, 
their  love  of  freedom  and  home,  their  daring 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  129 

in  war,  and  their  insatiable  thirst  for  power 
and  for  gold.  Divest  the  Anglo-Saxon  of 
today  of  the  uplifting  influences  of  Christi- 
anity and  the  veneering  of  civilization,  and 
he  stands  before  you  the  most  selfish  and 
grasping  of  men.  Even  today,  while  our 
churches  are  sending  missionaries  and  money 
to  well-nigh  every  nation  on  the  globe,  the 
ships  that  carry  these  consecrated  men  and 
wom.en  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles,  bear  the 
vilest  of  commercial  commodities — opium  and 
rum — to  besot  and  to  destroy  these  unevan- 
gelized  masses. 

If  we  do  not  intend  that  our  country,  when 
she  goes  forth  in  her  strength,  bearing  to  the 
nations  the  products  of  our  most  highly 
favored  land,  shall  prove  to  be  a  Cortez  or  a 
Pizarro,  plundering  and  burning  and  murder- 
ing that  she  may  satiate  her  accursed  thirst 
for  gold,  we  must  use  stronger  endeavors  to 
evangelize  our  people.  By  the  controlling 
forces  of  Christianity  we  must  cleanse  our 
commerce,  and  hold  in  strong  restraint  their 
absorbing  desire  for  gain. 

On  the  wide  Western  plains  a  generation 
ago,  the  Indian  would  put  down  his  ear  to  the 
earth  and  listen  for  the  tramp  of  the  count- 
less herd  of  buffalo,  too  far  away  for  even 
his  keen-eyed  vision  to  perceive.  So  let  us 
9 


130  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

put  down  our  ears  to  our  mother  earth  and 
hsten  to  the  tramp  of  the  coming  millions, 
who  so  soon  are  to  sweep  into  the  field  of  our 
vision  and  take  their  part  in  the  world's 
affairs.  Thirty  years  and  seventy-five  mil- 
lions more  will  come  to  add  their  strength, 
their  intelligence,  their  skill  to  the  great  army 
now  engaged  in  subduing  the  earth  and  har- 
nessing the  multiform  and  almost  omnipotent 
power  of  the  mysterious  agencies  of  air  and 
land  and  sea  to  do  our  bidding. 

To  what  use  will  these  inventions,  discov- 
eries, and  developments  of  power  be  applied 
by  the  coming  generation  ?  This  must  depend 
upon  their  moral  and  religious  development. 
What  spirit  shall  dominate  the  people  who 
hold  in  their  grasp  the  control  of  the  world? 
The  paramount  desire  of  these  people  will 
permeate  all  their  productions,  whether  these 
productions  address  themselves  to  the  mate- 
rial, the  mental,  or  the  moral  and  spiritual 
interests  of  humanity.  That  dominant  idea 
will  control  the  planting  of  every  field,  the 
use  of  every  agricultural  product,  and  the 
movement  of  every  manufacturing  implement. 
It  will  embody  itself  in  every  domestic  habit 
and  activity.  It  will  run  through  every  law 
enacted  by  legislative  power.  It  will  perme- 
ate  every   treaty   with    foreign   nations,    and 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  131 

according  to  its  benevolence  or  its  selfishness, 
it  will  be  a  blessing  or  a  curse  to  the  world. 
Our  great  ships  will  transport  to  every  shore 
the  morals  as  well  as  the  merchandise  of  our 
land.  If  the  vehicles  of  our  commerce  shall 
bear  the  purity  and  peace  of  the  gospel,  then 
may  we  hope  to  see  our  nation  a  savor  of 
life  unto  life.  But  if  it  shall  bear  the  things 
that  corrupt  and  curse  our  civilization,  then 
it  shall  prove  a  savor  of  death  unto  death  to 
all  the  nations. 

There  is  no  surer  or  swifter  means  of  ac- 
complishing our  Lord's  command,  to  give  the 
gospel  to  every  creature,  than  to  enlighten  and 
Christianize  and  sanctify  the  hearts  of  our 
own  people,  so  that  they  shall  write  upon 
everything  consumed  at  home  and  everything 
sent  abroad,  ''Holiness  to  the  Lord." 

When  the  millions  of  our  countrymen  shall 
give  Christianity  its  rightful  place,  not  only  in 
our  sanctuaries,  but  in  our  homes  and  our 
workshops  and  our  manufactories  and  our 
marts  of  trade;  when  the  peace  and  smile  of 
God  shall  so  fill  our  lives  that  it  shall  rest 
upon  all  our  fields,  shall  be  recognized  in  our 
streets,  shall  cleanse  the  slums  of  our  cities, 
shall  enlighten  the  ignorance  of  every  child 
of  poverty,  shall  meet  the  wants  of  the  afflicted 
and  be  the  friend  and  helper  of  the  needy; 


132  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

when  our  literature  shall  be  freed  from  all 
contaminating. influences,  and  our  society  lose 
its  follies  and  its  soul-dwarfing  vices  in  the 
higher  purpose  to  follow  the  Saviour's  exam- 
ple ;  when  our  hearts  shall  be  purified  and 
elevated  by  divine  grace  so  as  to  distribute 
its  large  benefactions  to  all  the  children  of 
want,  then  indeed  will  our  country  prove  a 
blessing  to  the  nations  of  the  earth,  then  will 
gospel  light  stream  to  every  shore  and  the 
dark  shadows  rise  and  float  away.  This  is 
God's  mission  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 
When  it  is  done  the  Kingdom  of  God  will  be 
on  earth,  and  he  will  reign  whose  right  it  is 
to  "put  all  things  under  his  feet." 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  133 

m. 
THE  LAND  OF  THE  SKY.* 

SOME   years    ago   for   the    first    time    I 
crossed   the   Land   of   the    Sky   from 
I      Morristown,  Tennessee,  to  Salisbury, 
North  CaroHna.     The  greater  part  of 
the  railway  had  been  recently  constructed,  and 
the  trains  ran  cautiously  and  slowly  over  the 
newly  opened  line. 

Leaving  Morristown  about  9  a.  m.,  we 
reached  Paint  Rock,  on  the  North  Carolina 
Hne,  about  12  m.^  and  began  our  delightful 
trip  up  the  French  Broad  River.  It  was  an 
October  day  with  the  air  full  of  warm  sun- 
shine, and  with  scarcely  a  cloud  to  cast  a 
shadow  upon  mountain  or  river.  The  delay 
for  dinner  at  the  Warm  Springs  shortened 
the  remaining  hours  of  the  never-to-be-for- 
gotten day.  With  deliberate  speed  the  train 
followed  every  curvature  of  the  French  Broad 
as  it  turned  from  side  to  side  seeking,  through 

♦This  choice  bit  from  Dr.  Tichenor's  pen  is  well 
worth  preserving,  both  as  illustrative  of  his  pow- 
ers of  imagination  and  description,  and  because  it 
was  his  first  view  of  a  section  of  our  country  in 
whose  material  and  spiritual  development  he  In 
after  years  took  great  interest. 


134  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

that  channel  it  has  chiseled  in  the  everlasting 
rocks,  its  pathway  to  the  sea. 

This  noted  river  finds  its  birthplace  among 
the  cliffs  of  the  Blue  Ridge  not  far  from 
Caesar's  Head  in  South  Carolina.  Calling  to- 
gether its  tributaries  from  every  side,  it  unites 
them  into  a  broad  flood  that  northeastward 
flows  down  the  easy  slope  of  the  beautiful 
valley,  and  meets  at  Asheville  the  sparkling 
Swannanoa  that  comes  leaping  like  a  fawn 
down  the  western  slopes  of  the  living  wall 
which  separates  the  depressed  mountain  plat- 
eaus from  the  Piedmont  valleys  of  the  east. 
Thus  reinforced,  the  two  turn  their  faces  to 
the  west  and  prepare  to  break  through  the 
mountain  ranges,  chain  after  chain,  until  at 
last  their  imprisoned  waters  flow  out  into  the 
great  valley  that  from  Pennsylvania  to  Ala- 
bama divides  the  Blue  Ridge  from  the  Alle- 
gheny. This  conflict  of  the  ages  is  not  yet 
ended.  The  mighty  river  has  indeed  cut  its 
way  through  the  mountain  barriers  and 
gained  the  wide  valley  down  which  it  flows  to 
the  great  Father  of  Waters,  but  everywhere 
the  mountain  ranges,  rising  close  on  either 
side  like  broken  battle  lines  still  holding  their 
position,  seek  to  throw  across  the  opening  a 
new  formation  to  imprison  these  flowing 
waters  forever. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  135 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  varied  beauty  of 
the  changing  scenery  as  the  train  slowly  fol- 
lowed every  winding  of  the  river,  clinging 
closely  to  the  water  side.  Here  the  stream 
with  arrowy  swiftness  poured  through  the 
deep  and  narrow  channel  it  had  worn  by  the 
labor  of  ages  into  the  inclosing  rocks.  Here, 
as  though  wearied  with  its  efforts,  it  dallied 
in  slow  running  eddies  under  banks  of  ferns 
and  wild  roses,  while  the  over-arching  trees 
with  their  long,  willowy  branches  stooped 
over  and  kissed  the  sleeping  waters.  And 
here  brawling  over  a  rocky  bed  it  broke  into  a 
wide  sheet  of  foam,  and  hurried  by  as  though 
it  had  heard  and  was  answering  the  call  for 
help  from  its  far  distant  mother — the  moan- 
ing sea. 

As  you  lifted  your  eyes  upward,  here  the 
shadows  on  the  mountains  deepened  the  green 
of  the  forest  verdure,  and  there  the  floods  of 
sunshine  mellowed  it  into  tints  of  gold.  Here 
the  bald  and  blackened  cliff  rose  unimpeded 
to  the  clouds,  and  there  clothed  to  their  very 
summits  with  leafy  covering  of  close  woven 
forests,  they  seemed  like  sentinels  guarding 
the  inner  shrine  of  this  sanctuary  of  the  moun- 
tain world.  At  last  the  parting  beams  of  the 
dying  day,  like  Moses,  climbed  to  the  moun- 
tain tops  to  bid  the  world  farewell,  and  the 


136  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

silent  shadows  were  lifted  from  the  vales  to 
cover  the  sleeping  world. 

We  reached  Asheville  just  "as  the  sentinel 
stars  set  their  watch  in  the  sky."  The  train 
would  resume  its  journey  to  Salisbury  with 
the  morning  light,  so  I  sought  the  Swannanoa 
hotel  and  retired  to  rest  at  the  usual  hour.  I 
could  not  sleep.  The  recollections  of  the  day 
lingered  in  my  soul.  Had  I  been  permitted 
to  walk  through  Eden  before  sin  had  stained 
its  glories,  and  seen  what,  since  its  unopening 
gates  have  been  forever  barred,  no  human  eye 
can  see,  I  should  scarce  have  been  more  en- 
raptured by  its  remembrance  than  I  was  that 
night. 

Before  the  dawn  I  had  descended  from  my 
chamber  to  the  office  where,  fortunately  for 
me,  the  proprietor  was  on  watch.  "You  are 
awake  early,"  said  he.  "It  is  more  than  an 
hour  before  your  train.  Have  you  ever  been 
in  Asheville  before?  Would  you  like  to  see 
the  sun  rise  from  the  top  of  the  hotel?  You 
have  plenty  of  time."  In  a  few  minutes  an 
opening  in  the  roof  let  us  out  into  the  cool 
air  of  the  morning.  At  first  all  was  dark  ex- 
cept a  streak  of  gray  dawn  upon  the  eastern 
horizon.  Then  as  our  eyes  grew  more  accus- 
tomed to  the  dark,  and  the  light  slowly  in- 
creased, there  came  out  the  dim  and  ghostly 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  ISl 

outlines  of  the  giant  mountains  emerging 
from  the  floods  of  darkness. 

Far  away  to  the  east  the  narrow  Hne  of 
glowing  crimson  is  broadening  on  the  up- 
ward arching  sky.  There  the  stars  are  pal- 
ing in  the  growing  light.  The  arrowy  beams 
of  the  coming  day  are  transforming  the 
mists  of  morning  into  the  light  of  heaven. 
Just  in  front  of  us  old  Pisgah's  bald  and 
craggy  summit,  smitten  by  the  coming  sun, 
looks  as  though  the  morning  star  had  fallen 
upon  her  and  invested  her  with  its  molten 
glories. 

Far  away  westward  peak  after  peak  is 
meeting  the  rising  day.  Balsam  and  Cling- 
man  and  Serbal  and  Junaluska  are  all  aglow 
as  though  the  watchiires  of  heavenly  guards 
had  been  kindled  on  their  summits.  A  hun- 
dred more  are  joining  in  the  line  of  glory. 
Standing  on  these  heights  so  near  to  heaven, 
angels'  hands  seem  to  be  disengaging  the  cur- 
tains of  the  night,  and  down  their  rugged 
sides  and  deep  ravines  the  loosened  draperies 
of  darkness  fall. 

Swiftly  eastward  across  the  broken  plain 
the  hosts  of  morning  are  driving  the  shadows 
of  the  night,  and  field  and  forest  and  mountain 
crag  and  the  wide  reach  of  flowing  river  are 
seized  by  the  conquering  light  until  Swanna- 


138  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

noa's  forest-tangled  fountains  yield  to  the  do- 
minion of  the  day,  and  in  token  of  her  loyalty 
she  sends  back  from  her  every  winding  the 
morning's  glowing  beam.  These  old  forests, 
covering  the  hills  to  their  very  summits,  clad 
in  their  autumnal  robes  of  crimson,  green  and 
gold,  look  like  high  priests  of  the  world  minis- 
tering at  nature's  altars,  and  lifting  their  rich 
fruit  offerings  to  their  God. 

Overwhelmed  with  the  splendors  of  that 
new  day,  breathed  in  beauty  upon  this  fallen 
earth,  I  lifted  up  my  tear-filled  eyes  and  said : 
"O  my  Father,  how  can  heaven  be  more  beau- 
tiful than  this?" 

Land  of  the  Sky,  thou  art  to  me  what  the 
patriarch  saw  when  sleeping  on  his  stony  pil- 
low— a  stairway  on  whose  ascent  of  gold,  heart 
and  hope  and  faith  and  life  rise  heavenward  so 
high,  that  at  times  my  soul  catches  the  angels' 
minstrelsy  and  the  sheen  of  that  dazzling 
throne,  whose  radiance  kindles  into  life  every 
sun  and  star  whose  cycling  march  measures 
alike  the  saint's  immortality  and  the  eternity 
of  God. 


THE    IIOxME    MISSION    STATESMAN  139 

IV. 

UNCLE  BEN'S  GOLDEN  WEDDING. 

A  TRUE  STORY/-^ 


MASTER,  you  ain't  gwine  to  whip  that 
little  boy,  and  his  ma  gone  away  to 
I      Selma,  is  you?" 

It  was  long  years  before  the  war,  in 
the  slavery  times,  when  Uncle  Ben  asked  this 
question.  "The  little  boy"  was  the  son  of  one 
of  Alabama's  largest  and  most  noted  planters, 
and  Uncle  Ben  was  the  head  man  of  his  large 
force,  or  "the  driver,"  as  such  a  man  was  al- 
ways called.  His  wife,  Aunt  Jennie,  was  the 
head  servant  of  her  mistress'  household,  and 
all  the  children  of  the  planter  called  her  "mam- 
my." On  the  day  before  Uncle  Ben  asked  the 
question  with  which  v;e  begin  this  sketch,  "the 
little  boy"  had  been  carelessly  playing  among 
the  hav  stacks  with  friction  matches,  exhibit- 


*This  story  belongs  to  the  family  life  of  Walker 
Reynolds,  of  Talladega  County,  Alabama.  Dr. 
Tichenor's  last  wife  was  a  daughter  of  this  house- 
hold, and  at  the  time  of  its  writing  he  was  a  son-in- 
law  in  the  home.  It  not  only  illustrates  Dr.  Tich- 
enor's style  of  writing,  but  sets  forth  the  best  side 
of  Southern  slavery. 


140  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

ing  to  an  astonished  crowd  of  little  darkies, 
how,  with  the  keen  edge  of  his  new  knife,  he 
could  kindle  them  into  a  flame.  Throwing 
the  ignited  wood  thoughtlessly  to  one  side,  that 
he  might  strike  another,  the  hay  was  fired.  In 
a  moment  the  fiercely  increasing  flame  shot  up 
to  the  top  of  the  huge  pyramid,  and  before  that 
infantile  crowd  had  time  to  think,  the  flames 
were  leaping  from  stack  to  stack,  until  seven- 
teen were  wrapped  in  their  winding  sheet  of 
fire.  The  high  fence,  which  had  been  built 
around  them  for  their  protection,  was  for  one 
brief  moment  black  with  the  panic-stricken 
darkies,  and  the  next  showed  a  line  of  black 
passing  with  the  velocity  of  the  wind  across 
the  level  sward.  The  little  boy  gazed  for  a 
moment  in  blank  amazement  upon  the  red 
ruin  his  carelessness  had  wrought,  and  then, 
gathering  his  energies,  began  to  exert  himself 
to  save  the  fence  which  encircled  the  flaming 
forage.  A  few  rails  only  were  transported  to 
a  safe  distance,  when  the  fire  leaped  madly 
over  the  whole  environment  and  drove  him 
away.  No  words  can  describe  the  awe  he  felt 
as  he  contemplated  the  burning  mass,  rolling 
heavenward  its  clouds  of  intermingled  black 
and  crimson,  or  the  terror  that  filled  his  heart 
as  he  thought  of  what  his  father  would  say 
and  do.      In  a  short  time,  the  whole  planta- 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  l4l 

tion  was  gathered  about  the  place,  and  the 
subdued  voices  of  a  hundred  darkies  mingled 
with  the  hiss  and  crackle  of  the  devouring 
flames.  Among  them  was  Uncle  Ben,  who 
soon  learned  that  his  little  favorite  was  the 
author  of  the  terrible  disaster.  Taking  him 
gently  by  the  hand,  he  led  him  back  to  the 
house,  and  w^ith  aching  heart,  awaited  the  re- 
turn of  the  planter,  who,  with  the  older  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  had  gone  to  preaching,  a 
few  miles  away.  In  due  time  they  all  returned, 
and  Uncle  Ben  made  faithful  report  to  the 
master  of  the  loss  he  had  sustained.  The  little 
culprit  was  ordered  into  his  mother's  room, 
and,  seated  in  his  low  arm-chair,  was  com- 
manded to  take  his  Bible  and  spend  the  remain- 
der of  the  day  in  reading  that  instructive  vol- 
ume. How  much  benefit  he  received  from 
that  afternoon's  perusal  of  those  sacred  pages 
history  does  not  record,  but  the  evidences  are 
that  it  must  have  been  great,  as  those  who 
knew  him  best  say  that  he  has  rarely  been 
known  to  open  it  since. 

Next  morning,  when  at  an  early  hour  Uncle 
Ben  reported  at  his  master's  door,  he  received, 
in  addition  to  his  usual  orders  to  see  that  all 
the  stock  was  properly  attended  to,  an  order 
that  he  should  on  his  return  bring  him  a  good 
supply  of  birch,  for  the  benefit  of  the  boy  who 


142  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

had  so  suddenly  deprived  the  plantation  of  its 
stores  of  food  for  the  winter.  No  wonder 
Uncle  Ben  was  slow  in  the  execution  of  this 
special  order.  For  a  long  time  he  lingered 
among  the  trees  which  were  to  furnish  the  in- 
struments of  correction,  and  with  reluctant 
step  returned  to  his  master's  chamber.  All 
this  time  he  had  been  ransacking  his  brain  and 
heart  for  some  plea  that  would  avail  to  shield 
the  child  from  the  impending  punishment,  and 
when  he  transferred  the  long  and  limber  rods 
to  the  master's  hands,  he  made,  in  sad  and 
pleading  tones,  the  remark  we  have  already 
quoted. 

The  little  boy's  mother  had  been  absent  for 
some  days,  on  a  visit  to  relatives  in  a  city 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  away,  and  Ben 
knew  how  anxiously  the  planter  awaited  his 
wife's  return.  His  own  affection  for  Aunt 
Jennie  taught  him  that  this  was  the  most  avail- 
able avenue  to  the  heart  of  the  strong-willed 
man  before  whom  he  stood.  But  when  he 
saw  that  the  stern  look  did  not  relax,  he  feared 
his  plea  had  been  without  effect. 

"Master,"  said  he,  in  a  low,  firm  tone,  that 
evinced  beyond  question  that  he  meant  what 
he  said :  *'If  you  must  whip  somebody  for  dat 
fire,  whip  me,  and  let  de  little  chile  go."  And 
he  began  to  remove  his  coat  to  receive  th^ 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  143 

Stripes.  The  planter  was  overcome.  His 
eyes  filled  with  tears,  and,  handing  the  switches 
back  to  Uncle  Ben,  he  gave  him  his  promise 
that  nobody  should  be  whipped  "for  dat  fire." 

Since  that  morning,  long  years  have  passed. 
The  war  came  and  went.  The  slaves  on  the 
old  plantation  became  free,  and  in  a  short  time 
were  scattered  far  and  wide  over  the  country ; 
but  Uncle  Ben  and  Aunt  Jennie  remained. 

The  planter,  ripe  in  years,  left  his  earthly 
possessions,  crossed  over  the  river,  and  is  rest- 
ing under  the  shadow^  of  the  trees  that  grow 
by  the  river  of  life  in  the  paradise  of  God. 
From  the  window  of  the  old  mansion  you  look 
down  where,  on  a  gentle  elevation,  underneath 
the  old  oaks,  undisturbed  by  the  woodman's 
axe,  a  white  marble  shaft  marks  the  spot  where 
his  mortal  part  awaits  the  resurrection  of  the 
just. 

The  lit;^e  boy  has  grown  to  be  a  man.  From 
a  distant  state  a  cultured  and  charming  wife 
has  been  Lrought  to  his  side.  His  fellow-cit- 
izens have  recognized  his  sterling  worth  and 
called  him  to  serve  them  in  places  of  responsi- 
bility, and  now  the  letters  that  reach  the  old 
mansion  for  him  have  ''Honorable"  endorsed 
upon  them. 

Uncle  Ben  and  Aunt  Jennie  live  close  by 
upon  a  part  of  the  old  plantation,  and  every 


144  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

few  days  are  seen  at  the  old  homestead. 
Around  the  humble,  but  comfortable,  home 
are  to  be  seen  horses  and  cows  and  pigs  and 
goats.  Their  garden  is  well  supplied  with  all 
the  vegetables  grown  in  that  sunny  clime,  and 
within,  kept  by  Aunt  Jennie's  neat  hand,  all  is 
as  clean  and  cheery  as  if  white  folks  lived 
there. 

Age  has  crept  upon  this  couple,  and  infirm- 
ities have  lingered,  but  they  go  about  their 
daily  tasks  with  hearts  in  which  the  light  of  life 
has  been  softened  and  mellowed  by  their  ad- 
vancing years.  Honored  and  respected  by  all 
the  neighbors,  both  white  and  black,  welcome 
visitors  to  the  old  family,  whom  they  served 
from  the  heart  for  so  many  years,  this  old 
couple  "along  the  cool  sequestered  vale  of  life 
keep  the  noiseless  tenor  of  their  way." 

Christmas  days  have  come,  and  with  them 
the  annual  family  reunion  at  Mount  Ida,  as 
the  old  homestead  is  called.  The  stately  old 
plantation  home,  with  its  ample  dimensions,  is 
crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity.  The  sons  are 
there,  and  the  married  daughters  bring  their 
husbands;  and  merchants,  manufacturers, 
lawyers,  preachers,  and  state  officials — men 
whose  names  are  not  unknown  to  fortune  and 
to  fame — are  part  of  the  goodly  company. 

Troops  of  grandchildren  come  with  eager 


THE    HOME   MISSION    STATESMAN         145 

feet  from  their  city  homes  to  enjoy  grand- 
mother's royal  entertainment  during  Christ- 
mas hoHdays.  Her  Hberal  purse  and  large 
loving  heart  have  prepared  no  stinted  welcome 
for  them.  The  spacious  fireplaces  are  filled 
with  oak  and  hickory,  and  the  rich  pine  kin- 
dles the  accumulated  mass  to  its  brightest 
glow.  The  lamps  shine  down  upon  the  long 
extended  table,  burdened  with  everything 
luscious  from  land  and  sea.  The  frozen  North 
has  brought  its  tribute  to  swell  the  feast,  and 
the  fruits  of  Florida  grace  it  with  their  golden 
hue.  By  day  the  guns  and  horses  are  called 
into  requisition,  and  the  rabbits  and  partridges 
and  the  antlered  monarchs  of  the  forest  become 
victims  of  the  death-dealing  huntsman. 

"Tomorrow  is  Uncle  Ben  and  Aunt  Jennie's 
golden  wedding,"  said  the  gray-haired  matron, 
"and  we  must  celebrate  it  properly." 

To  that  household  her  wish  is  always  law, 
and  to  this  proposal  there  was  an  instant  and 
cordial  assent. 

To  those  gifted  and  honored  men,  and  to 
those  cultured  and  queenly  women,  Uncle  Ben 
and  Aunt  Jennie  had  been  the  kindest  of 
friends. 

They  had  in  their  childhood  called  them 
"Daddy"  and  "Mammy,"  and  the  memory  of 
the  good  deeds  done  by  that  old  couple  came 
10 


146  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

stealing  back  over  the  heart,  like  some  strain 
of  sweetest  music  that  at  twilight  steals  over 
the  waters  of  a  sleeping  lake.  The  blameless 
life  they  had  ever  led,  their  fidelity  to  each 
other  and  to  their  God,  the  peace  and  piety 
and  love  that  had  reigned  through  half  a  cen- 
tury in  their  humble  home,  were  known  to  all 
that  household,  and  as  memory  stirred  the  deep 
fountain  of  their  hearts,  emotions  of  gratitude 
and  joy  brought  tears  to  every  eye. 

"The  little  boy"  was  reminded  for  the  ten- 
thousandth  time  of  the  scene  when  Uncle  Ben 
drew  off  his  coat  and  said :  "Master,  whip 
me."  One  recalled  how  Uncle  Ben  had  gath- 
ered partridge  eggs  in  his  capacious  pockets, 
and,  when  the  day's  work  was  done,  brought 
them  from  the  field  to  her.  Others  told  sto- 
ries showing  equal  thoughtfulness  of  love  to- 
ward them.  In  that  hour,  unrestrained  by 
the  conventionalities  of  life,  they  told  artless 
stories  of  the  couple.  Memory  made  them 
children  again,  and,  as  in  days  of  old,  they 
were  seated  by  the  fire,  and  listened  with  all 
the  interest  of  those  early  days  to  the  songs  and 
tales  that  so  charmed  them. 

The  fidelity,  not  only  to  the  white  family, 
but  to  each  other,  became  the  theme  of  con- 
versation, and  one  told  us,  as  an  illustration  of 
it,  how  Aunt  Jennie,  who  for  many  years  had 


THE    HOiME   MISSION    STATESMAN         147 

been  a  devout  ^Methodist,  after  her  freedom, 
became  dissatisfied  with  her  baptism;  but 
Uncle  Ben  persisted  in  saying  that  his  was 
good  enough  for  him.  But  on  the  day  when 
she  was  to  be  immersed,  as  Uncle  Ben  watched 
her  packing  up  her  clothes  preparatory  to  this 
rite,  he  said  to  her  quietly :  "Jennie,  I  'spect 
you'd  better  put  mine  in,  too."  Unwilling  to 
be  separated  from  her  even  in  this,  he  went 
with  her  in  her  conviction  of  duty,  though  he 
had  none  of  his  own.  "Lovely  and  pleasant 
in  their  lives,"  even  in  this  symbol  of  "death 
they  were  not  divided." 

The  next  morning,  as  soon  as  breakfast  was 
cleared  away,  the  long  dining  table  was  cov- 
ered with  bridal  presents  for  the  couple,  who 
for  fifty  years  had  walked  together  in  the  path 
of  life;  and  in  those  presents  every  member 
of  the  family  was  represented.  That  of  the 
former  mistress  was  the  largest  of  them  all. 
Every  grandchild  brought  an  offering  to  them 
on  this  joyous  occasion. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  the  preacher  son- 
in-law  should  make  an  address  to  them,  and, 
after  they  and  their  colored  friends  had  filled 
the  room  on  one  side  of  the  well-laden  table, 
he  told  them  how  their  devotion  to  each  other 
and  their  attachment  to  the  family  had  en- 


148  ISAAC  TAYLOk  TiCHENOR 

deared  them  to  every  one.  Then,  after  wish- 
ing them  many  happy  days,  he  said : 

"Uncle  Ben,  you  know  that  on  wedding  oc- 
casions the  preacher  always  expects  a  fee." 

Uncle  Ben's  countenance  fell.  He  had  not 
expected  that  such  a  demand  would  be  made 
upon  him. 

"But,"  said  the  minister,  "on  this  occasion 
the  custom  will  be  reversed,  and  the  preacher 
will  pay  the  fee." 

Then  drawing  the  shining  coins  from  his 
pocket,  he  placed  them  in  the  hands  of  the 
aged  couple. 

"Now,  join  hands  together  in  token  of  your 
determination  still  to  keep  your  vows  of  love 
to  each  other." 

It  was  done. 

"Now,  salute  your  bride,  and  this  ceremony 
will  end." 

With  the  greatest  gravity  and  the  dignity  of 
a  prince,  the  kiss  was  imprinted  upon  the  lips 
of  the  dusky  bride. 

Then  followed  congratulations,  in  which 
each  member  of  the  family  shook  hands  with 
the  honored  couple,  and  stated  brief  reminis- 
cences of  their  childhood.  The  colored  friends, 
too,  gave  them  their  congratulations  with  noisy 
demonstrations,  and  retired. 

Uncle  Ben  spoke  a  few  words — his  emotion 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN         149 

would  not  allow  him  to  speak  many — of  grate- 
ful acknowledgment.  Aunt  Jennie,  more  pro- 
fuse, talked  with  streaming  eyes  of  all  the 
kindness  she  and  Ben  had  received,  and  how 
until  death  they  would  be  faithful  in  their 
affection  to  those  who  had  shown  such  love 
to  them,  and  left  the  room. 

Uncle  Ben  lingered  behind.  Looking  into 
the  face  of  his  former  mistress,  he  said : 

**Dar  is  one  thing  I  always  wanted." 

"What  is  it,  Ben  ?"   she  asked. 

Glancing  at  the  portrait  that  hung  over  the 
mantel,  he  said,  in  a  voice  low  and  husky,  and 
with  emotion: 

"Master's  pictur'." 

"You  shall  have  it,"  she  replied,  and  he 
bowed  low  and  retired. 


A  sad  sequel  to  this  pleasing  history  is  told 
in  an  extract  made  from  a  letter  received  from 
the  mistress  of  the  old  homestead. 

Mount  Ida,  March  27,  1885. 
My  Dear  S.  :   This  letter  will  convey  to  you  and 
R.  sad  news.      Our  dear  old  servant,  Jennie,  is  no 
more.    The  death  angel  took  her  from  us  on  Wednes- 
day afternoon  at  four  o'clock.     She  had  a  spell  of 


150  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

sickness  in  February,  but  seemed  to  have  recovered 
from  it,  although  the  pain  in  her  side  still  remained. 
Last  week  she  exposed  herself  in  attending  a  school 
exhibition  at  the  African  church,  took  fresh  cold, 
and  died  that  day  week.  O.  M.  was  away  in  Clay 
County,  and  Maude  was  in  New  Orleans  with  her 
Carolina  friends.  We  regretted  their  absence  very 
much,  for  Jennie  was  like  a  member  of  our  family. 
When  I  came  home  as  a  bride  in  November,  1841, 
she  was  the  first  of  all  the  servants  to  meet  and 
welcome  me.  Since  that  hour,  till  her  death,  she 
was  with  me  on  every  occasion  of  joy  or  sorrow, 
through  all  my  wedded  and  widowed  life.  So  you 
will  not  think  it  strange  that  I  should  grieve.  She 
has  added  in  her  way,  not  only  to  the  comfort  and 
pleasure  of  my  children  and  myself,  but  all  my 
grandchildren  loved  to  go  to  "Mammy's  house," 
which  shows  how  kindly  she  treated  them.  It  is 
sad  and  pitiful  to  see  Ben  in  his  deep  and  silent 
grief. 

The  spring  violets  will  bloom  over  Aunt 
Jennie's  grave,  for  loving  hands  will  tend  the 
spot  where  she  sleeps  in  peace  until  the  Lord 
shall  come.  That  humble  life  of  hers  was  rich 
in  the  life  of  faith  and  love,  and  to  her  he  will 
say,  "Well  done!" 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  151 


JESSE  GOLDTHWAITE:  A  CHRISTIAN 
SLAVE. 

mN  the  year  1852,  I  became  pastor  of  the 
Baptist  Church  in  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama. This  church  consisted  partly 
of  colored  members,  for  whom  a  sep- 
arate service  was  held  every  Sunday  afternoon. 
It  became  my  duty  to  conduct  these  services ; 
and  I  was  thus  brought  into  contact  with  a 
large  body  of  colored  people  who  were  pro- 
fessed followers  of  Christ.  Among  them  were 
many  whom  I  soon  learned  to  respect  for  their 
earnest  piety  and  their  warm  attachment  to 
the  Saviour's  cause.  It  was  to  me  a  great 
pleasure  to  tell  these  simple-minded  people  of 
the  Saviour's  love  for  guilty  man,  and  to  point 
them  to  that  blest  abode  where  *'the  weary  are 
at  rest." 

Among  the  members  of  the  church  was  one 
to  whom  my  attention  was  quickly  attracted. 
He  was  a  tall,  raw-boned  man,  half  white,  and 
apparently  about  fifty  years  of  age.  He  was 
the  subject  of  some  infirmity,  which  had  greatly 
impaired  his  physical  powers.  His  eyesight 
had  been  partially  destroyed,  and  he  walked 


152  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

with  some  difficulty.  His  entrance  into  the 
sanctuary  was  always  recognized  by  his  pecul- 
iar step,  and  the  noise  made  by  the  long  and 
heavy  walking-stick  striking  at  measured  in- 
tervals upon  the  floor.  His  face  indicated  a 
strong  and  turbulent  nature,  which  had  been 
subdued  by  suffering;  and,  when  under  the 
influence  of  religious  emotions,  the  light  of 
love  shone  through  his  countenance,  as  the 
setting  sun  shines  through  the  rifted  clouds 
after  a  day  of  storm.  On  inquiry,  I  learned 
that  he  had  not  long  before  joined  the  church ; 
that  he  had  been  a  very  bad  man — his  uncon- 
trolled passions  often  leading  him  into  difficul- 
ties with  those  of  his  own  color,  and  subject- 
ing him  to  the  severest  discipline  at  the  hands 
of  a  not  over-lenient  master.  He  had  been 
addicted  to  intemperance ;  and  this  vice,  which 
was  an  unusual  one  among  slaves,  had,  doubt- 
less, been  the  chief  source  of  his  troubles. 
When  under  the  influence  of  strong  drink,  he 
was  regarded  as  a  very  dangerous  man;  and 
on  more  than  one  occasion  he  had  attempted 
the  lives  of  his  fellows.  He  had  been  received 
into  the  church  with  some  degree  of  hesitation ; 
and  at  the  time  I  became  pastor,  the  question 
of  his  steadfastness  to  his  profession  had  not 
been  fully  settled.  But  his  regular  attendance 
upon  all  the  services  of  the  church,  and  the 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  153 

earnest  endeavor  he  was  making  to  lead  a 
Christian  Hfe,  were  rapidly  winning  the  warm- 
est sympathy  and  confidence  of  the  whole  con- 
gregation. That  confidence  he  never  for- 
feited. For  fifteen  years  I  knew  him  as  a  de- 
voted Christian,  whose  daily  walk,  unblem- 
ished by  a  stain,  led  him  calmly  and  peacefully 
to  the  banks  of  the  dark  river,  over  which  he 
crossed  into  the  paradise  of  God.  I  have  sel- 
dom known  one  whose  life  was  a  stronger  tes- 
timony to  the  power  of  the  gospel  to  subdue 
and  remold  the  heart  of  man. 

On  Lord's  Day  afternoon,  his  seat  in  the 
corner  by  the  side  of  the  pulpit  was  never 
vacant.  The  interest  which  he  always  mani- 
fested in  the  worship,  and  the  delight  with 
which  he  drank  in  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  was 
to  me  a  source  of  inspiration.  Oppressed,  as 
I  often  was  by  the  work  of  the  past  week  and 
by  the  morning  services,  intensified  in  their 
effect  by  feeble  health  and  a  debilitating  cli- 
mate, I  learned  to  watch  for  Jesse's  coming, 
and  to  look  to  him  for  help  in  the  discharge  of 
duties  which  were  overtaxing  my  physical 
powers.  There  was  something  in  those  deep- 
toned  responses  he  frequently  made  during 
the  prayer;  in  those  dimmed  and  half-sight- 
less eyes  many  times  suffused  with  tears ;  in 
the  expectant  gaze  he  turned  on  me  as  I 
*io 


154  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

tried  to  preach ;  in  the  evident  longing  for  the 
bread  of  life,  that  overcame  debility  and  fa- 
tigue, and  nerved  me  for  the  labors  of  the 
hour.  He  never  knew  how  much  he  helped 
me,  nor  how  his  heart-hunger  evoked  un- 
wonted efforts  to  supply  his  craving  soul  with 
heavenly  food. 

At  the  close  of  the  sermon,  I  sometimes 
called  on  him  to  pray;  and  then  I  received 
more  than  an  equivalent  for  all  my  sermon  had 
contained  for  him.  His  prayers  were  peculiar. 
He  discarded  the  solemn  form  which  is  usually 
employed  in  prayer,  and  talked  seemingly 
almost  face  to  face  with  his  God.  True,  he 
was  illiterate ;  for  he  was  a  slave.  His  utter- 
ances would  not  bear  the  grammarian's  criti- 
cism. ;  but  there  was  an  eloquence,  born  of  that 
strong  nature  which  had  been  subdued  into 
childlike  dependence  upon  its  God,  that  in  its 
very  simiplicity  approximated  the  sublime.  The 
thank-offering  of  a  loving  heart,  the  needs  of 
his  own  soul,  and  burning  desire  that  others 
might  know  his  Saviour's  love,  found  utterance 
in  words  and  sentences  which,  though  broken 
and  disarranged,  needed  no  translation  to  make 
them  intelligible  to  God  or  man. 

When  the  last  years  of  the  war  came  on, 
there  was  on  the  part  of  some  of  my  colored 
congregation  a  manifest  expectation  of  free- 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  155 

dom.  They  could  not  disguise  their  anxiety 
for  its  coming.  Though  submissive  and  obe- 
dient to  the  will  of  their  masters  to  the  very 
last  day  of  their  bondage,  they  could  not  re- 
press the  uplifting  thought  that  they  were  soon 
to  be  free.  But  with  Jesse  there  was  no  such 
manifestation.  It  may  have  arisen  from  the 
consciousness  that  his  easy  task  scarcely  remu- 
nerated his  owner  for  his  food  and  raiment ; 
but  far  more  probably  it  emanated  from  his 
entire  submission  to  the  v/ill  of  God.  To  him, 
life  was  but  a  journey  home ;  and  it  seemed 
to  matter  little  whether  he  performed  that 
short  journey  as  a  freeman  or  a  slave.  His 
heart  was  fixed  upon  his  heavenly  inheritance, 
and  he  concerned  himself  little  about  his  rela- 
tions to  others  in  the  years  of  his  earthly  pil- 
grimage. 

When  the  day  of  deliverance  came,  many 
were,  for  a  time,  too  much  absorbed  in  their 
new-found  freedom,  to  think  of  their  connec- 
tion with  the  church  or  their  duty  to  their  God. 
They  left  their  homes  in  multitudes,  and 
flocked  by  thousands  to  see  the  great  armies 
that  had  set  them  free.  They  gave  loose  reins 
to  every  inclination,  and  thousands  perished 
in  the  time  of  their  great  jubilee.  But  Jesse 
was  the  same.  Freedom  wrought  no  change 
in  him.     Whether  free  or  a  slave,  Christ  w^as 


156  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

Master,  worship  his  delight,  and  the  will  of 
God  his  law. 

One  day,  after  these  disturbing  times  had 
begun  to  settle  themselves  into  the  regular 
course  of  events,  Jesse  came  to  my  study. 
Gladly  I  invited  the  old  man  in,  gave  him  a 
chair,  and  entered  into  familiar  conversation 
with  him.  We  had  not  been  long  thus  en- 
gaged, when  he  modestly  told  me  that  he  had 
come  to  ask  a  favor  of  me.  Being  assured  of 
my  willingness  to  do  anything  in  my  power 
for  him,  he  bowed  his  head  upon  his  hands 
and  remained  silent  for  a  time.  He  was  strug- 
gling with  some  overwhelming  emotion.  At 
last,  lifting  his  face  and  looking  at  me  with  the 
deepest  interest,  he  said: 

*'I  want  you  to  write  some  letters  for  me." 
When  told  I  would  with  pleasure,  he  respond- 
ed :  "Master,"  that  he  always  called  me,  "I 
will  have  to  tell  you  my  story  to  explain  to 
you  what  I  want.  I  was  not  always  a  slave. 
I  was  a  free  man  before  I  was  brought  to  Ala- 
bama." 

He  then  proceeded  to  give  me  the  history  of 
his  life.  He  had  been  reared  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  Maryland.  His  father  owned  a  small 
farm  not  far  from  one  of  its  pleasant  villages. 
The  family  consisted  of  his  father  and  mother, 
his  three  brothers,  and  one  sister.     One  day. 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  157 

when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
Iiad  been  sent  on  some  mission  to  the  shore  of 
ihe  Chesapeake  Bay.  While  there  he  was 
kidnapped,  carried  into  Virginia,  and  sold  as 
a  slave  to  a  Southern  trader,  who  had  brought 
him  to  Alabama.  There  he  had  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  man  whose  name  he  bore,  and 
which  he  carried  to  his  grave.  His  simple 
recital  of  these  facts  overwhelmed  me. 

"Why,"  I  asked,  "did  you  not  tell  the  story 
of  your  wrong?" 

"I  did  tell  the  trader  who  brought  me  to 
Alabama,  and  Mr.  Goldthwaite,  who  bought 
me;  but  they  said  they  had  paid  their  money 
for  me,  and  that  the  fault  was  not  theirs.  And, 
master,  what  could  I  do  ?  I  was  ignorant,  and 
had  nobody  to  help  me.  For  a  long  time  I 
fought  against  my  slavery.  I  was  mad  with 
everybody  and  everything.  God  only  knows 
how  wicked  I  was.  My  mistress  was  kind 
to  me,  and  my  Master  wouldVe  been,  too,  if 
I  had  been  a  good  servant;  but  I  wasn't.  I 
didn't  care  for  anything,  or  anybody.  I  cussed 
and  I  got  drunk,  and  I  stole  and  I  told  lies, 
and  I  did  everything  that  was  wicked  and  bad. 
One  night,  w^hen  I  was  drunk,  I  nearly  froze 
to  death ;  and  that's  what  give  me  the  rheu- 
matiz  and  made  me  so  nearly  blind.  But, 
master,  I'se  got  over  all  that.     Since  I  found 


158  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

religion,  Tse  done  forgive  everybody,  and  I*se 
glad  I  was  brought  to  Alabama.  It's  well- 
nigh  on  to  fifty  years  since  I  seed  my  father 
and  mother  and  brothers,  and  my  sister,  who 
was  a  little  gal  when  they  stole  me  avv^ay  from 
home;  and  I  'spect  they's  all  done  dead  and 
gone.  Leastwise,  I  don't  'spec  to  see  urn  no 
more  in  'dis  world,  'cept  it  mought  be  my  sis- 
ter, who  may  be  living  yet.  But  I'se  thankful 
to  the  Lord  that  here  in  Alabama  I'se  found 
Jesus.  He's  better  than  all ;  and  maybe  if 
dey  hadn't  stole  me  away,  I'd  never  found  him. 
I'm  not  sorry  'bout  it  now ;  for  I'd  rather  be 
a  slave  and  have  Jesus,  than  to  be  free  without 
him." 

The  old  man's  story  touched  my  heart,  and  I 
determined  to  do  all  I  could  to  get  information 
as  to  his  family.  I  wrote  to  friends  in  Balti- 
m.ore,  and  to  the  postmaster  of  the  village  near 
which  his  father  had  lived.  I  had  little  hope 
that  anybody,  in  those  disturbed  and  trying 
times,  would  take  interest  enough  in  the  tale 
of  the  old  negro  to  acquaint  himself  with  the 
facts,  and  help  him  to  secure,  through  tardy 
justice,  the  rights  and  privileges  so  long  de- 
nied him.  The  old  man  waited  patiently  for 
some  reply;  and  one  day  there  came  to  him 
a  message.  'Twas  not  from  the  shore  of  t^/? 
Chesapeake,  nor  the  voice  of  earthly  kindred 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  159 

calling  him  back  to  his  long-lost  home.  It  was 
a  call  to  the  shining  shore  of  the  better  land, 
from  his  Elder  Brother;  and  joyfully  he  laid 
down  the  shackles  of  his  earthly  bondage,  and 
went  upward  to  be  free. 


VI. 

JOSEPH  ISLANDS. 

APOSTLE  OP  THE  INDIANS. 

\/\  NE  day,  in  the  then  frontier  town  of 
I II  LaFayette,  Alabama,  just  before  the 
*— J  removal  of  the  Creeks  to  their  West- 
ern home,  a  tall,  raw-boned  man, 
whose  face  bespoke  both  great  kindliness  and 
determination,  was  seen  to  lay  his  hand  upon 
the  shoulder  of  a  young  Indian  and  heard  to 
say,  "Joe!  Don't  you  mind  these  bad  boys; 
come  with  me."  That  man  was  Rev.  Frank 
Calloway,  whose  nam.e  is  yet  fragrant  among 
the  churches  of  east  Alabama.  The  young 
Indian  was  Joseph  Islands,  who  became  the 
Apostle  of  the  Creek  Nation.  A  party  of  rude 
boys  were  sorely  annoying  him,  when  Callo- 


160  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

way,  who  knew  him  well,  saw  the  fire  of  re- 
venge flash  from  his  dark  eye.  His  hand  was 
upon  his  scalping  knife,  and  in  a  moment 
more,  blood  would  flow.  At  the  kindly  yet 
determined  words  of  the  preacher,  Islands 
paused  and,  yielding  to  the  strong  will  of  his 
judicious  friend,  walked  away  with  him.  The 
heart  of  the  good  man  was  deeply  moved  to- 
wards the  young  savage  who  had  obeyed  him. 
It  was  probably  the  last  interview  they  would 
ever  have.  Islands  with  his  tribe  was  to  go 
west  in  a  few  days,  and  this  was  the  only  re- 
maining opportunity  he  would  ever  enjoy,  to 
reach  his  soul  with  the  truths  of  the  gospel. 
As  in  the  presence  of  eternity,  the  good  man 
plied  him  with  the  truths  of  the  Scripture  and 
urged  him  to  seek  the  Saviour.  Islands  was 
impressed  by  the  kindness  and  earnestness  of 
the  man  of  God.  Before  the  interview  termi- 
nated, Calloway  had  given  him  a  Bible  and 
received  the  promise  on  his  part,  to  carry  it 
with  him  to  his  new  home  in  the  far  West. 
This  promise  he  kept  according  to  the  letter, 
but  not  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  made. 
Before  he  started  on  his  long  journey,  v/hich 
ended  far  beyond  the  great  I\Iississippi,  he 
placed  that  Bible  at  the  bottom  of  the  box  in 
which  Ws  valuables  were  packed,  and  there  it 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  161 

lay  for  many  long  days,  neglected  and  for- 
gotten. 

Islands,  grown  to  full  manhood,  was  a 
leader  in  the  wild  revelry  of  his  young  asso- 
ciates ;  he  had  learned  to  play  the  violin,  and 
consequently  his  services  were  indispensable 
at  all  their  gatherings.  One  night,  when 
whiskey  had  been  freely  used  by  the  party,  a 
quarrel  ensued,  and  Islands'  dearest  friend  was 
killed.  The  next  day,  an  old  negro  named 
"Billy''  was  ordered  to  dig  a  grave  for  the 
murdered  man.  Islands,  sad  and  lonely,  went 
out  to  see  the  spot  where  his  friend  was  to  be 
laid.  Old  Billy  was  a  Christian,  and  while 
Islands  sat  by  and  saw  him  excavate  the  nar- 
row house,  his  heart  was  moved  for  the  young 
Indian.  He  talked  with  him  about  death, 
about  the  great  beyond,  about  Jesus  and  the 
resurrection.  Islands  was  deeply  impressed — 
the  arrows  of  conviction  stuck  in  his  soul. 
Many  times  afterward,  he  sought  "Uncle 
Billy's"  cabin,  and  learned  more  and  more 
about  the  way  of  life.  At  length  he  found 
peace  in  believing ;  it  was  a  time  of  great  joy. 
He  and  Uncle  Billy  met  and  sung  and  prayed 
and  rejoiced  together.  Then  Islands  remem- 
bered his  long-forgotten  Bible.  It  was 
brought  forth  from  the  depths  of  the  box ;  and, 
while  he  would  read,  Uncle  Billy  would  ex- 


162  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

plain,  as  best  he  could,  the  wonders  of  ''that 
old,  old  story."  For  days  and  days  they  com- 
muned together  in  secret. 

At  length  the  thought  came  to  them,  ''this 
is  a  day  of  good  tidings  and  we  hold  our 
peace."  A  most  stringent  law  forbade  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  among  the  In- 
dians. The  penalty  for  its  violation  was 
heavy.  To  every  one  found  engaged  in  wor- 
ship according  to  the  forms  of  the  white  man's 
religion,  thirty-nine  lashes  were  to  be  admin- 
istered by  the  police.  But  Islands  and  Uncle 
Billy  did  not  regard  this  edict.  They  talked 
privately  to  their  friends  about  the  great  salva- 
tion, invited  them  to  meet  with  them  at  the 
secret  spot  chosen  for  religious  worship,  and 
soon  gathered  a  little  group  that  braved  the 
dangers  of  the  law.  One  after  another  of  these 
was  born  into  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  as 
each  professed  faith  in  Christ,  his  name  was 
placed  upon  the  list  of  disciples,  until  thirty 
names  appeared  upon  the  roll.  Meantime  the 
authorities  had  taken  the  alarm.  The  hated 
religion  of  the  white  man  was  secretly  making 
progress.  The  mounted  police,  "the  light 
horse,"  as  they  were  called,  were  ordered  to 
be  more  vigilant  and  to  execute  with  impartial 
justice  the  law  against  heresy.  As  vigilant 
and  cunning^  as  their  foes,  the  Christian  In- 


THE    HOME    ^nSSION    STATESAIAN  163 

dians  found  secluded  places  for  their  worship 
and  continued  their  meetings.  Spies  were  set 
to  watch  them;  and  many  were  the  stories 
told  of  the  shrewdness  and  cunning  manifested 
by  the  Christian  party,  to  escape  detection  by 
their  numerous  and  active  enemies. 

One  night,  a  spy  followed  some  of  them 
near  to  their  place  of  worship.  He  had  lost 
the  trail,  and  while  seeking  for  some  new  indi- 
cation to  guide  him,  he  heard  the  voice  of  sing- 
ing. Stealthily  creeping  through  the  bushes, 
he  came  to  an  open  spot,  beyond  which  he  saw 
a  light,  and  heard  the  notes  of  song.  Prone 
upon  the  ground  he  crawled  snake-like 
through  the  tall  grass,  towards  the  place.  As 
he  neared  it  the  melody  ceased,  and  then  the 
voice  of  prayer  caught  his  ear.  Islands  was 
praying  for  his  people,  for  his  persecutors,  for 
the  police  who  were  hunting  them,  for  the  spies 
that  were  dogging  their  track.  He  listened ; 
his  heart  stood  still  as  he  heard  his  own  name 
called  and  the  Great  Spirit  invoked  to  thwart 
his  evil  purposes  and  to  change  his  heart. 
There,  as  he  lay  concealed  in  the  tall  grass,  the 
thought  of  his  great  guilt  shook  him  like  the 
tremors  of  an  earthquake.  The  prayer  ended 
and  the  melody  of  Zion's  song  arose  once  more. 
The  first  stanza  told  of  Jesus'  bleeding  love  for 
guilty   man;    and   the  voices   of  the   singers 


164  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

caught  the  emotions  of  these  hearts  and  wafted 
them  heavenward  upon  the  midnight  air. 
Pausing  for  breath,  overawed  by  a  presence 
he  could  not  understand,  he  Hstened  to  the 
song.  He  had  never  heard  such  melody.  He 
had  listened  to  the  south  wind  when  it  sighed 
through  the  leafless  forest,  waking  its  thou- 
sand wind  harps  to  strains  of  plaintive  melody. 
He  had  heard  the  river  as  it  rushed  headlong 
down  the  steeps,  singing  its  song,  "to  the  sea, 
to  the  sea."  He  had  heard  feathered  song- 
sters of  his  forest  home  singing  in  the  sunlight, 
singing  in  the  shadow,  singing  when  the 
moonbeams  covered  the  wide  land  with  their 
sheen  of  glory;  but  he  had  never  heard  song 
like  that.  It  spoke  to  him  of  light  and  love 
from  the  Great  Spirit.  It  spoke  to  him  of 
his  own  dark  guilt,  in  seeking  to  betray  and 
punish  these  people.  He  wondered  that  a 
thunderbolt  did  not  strike  him  dead.  He 
trembled  lest  the  solid  earth  should  open  and 
swallow  him  down  into  the  very  abyss  of  the 
lost.  At  length  he  tried  to  rise,  but  his  limbs 
refused  to  carry  him.  He  tried  to  crawl  away 
from  that  awful  spot,  but  he  could  not.  The 
only  movement  he  could  make  was  to  roll  over 
and  over,  and  thus  he  gained  the  bushes  from 
which  he  had  first  heard  the  voice  of  singing. 
There  he  lay  in  an  agony  never  felt  before, 


THE  HOME  MiSStON   STATESMAN        165 

crying,  fearing,  trembling,  praying,  how  long 
he  never  knew. 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  disciples,  he 
stood  in  their  midst,  and,  with  penitential  sobs, 
told  the  strange  story  of  his  effort  to  bring 
them  to  punishment  and  how  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  had  arrested  him  and  held  him  a  trem- 
bling captive.  Before  the  meeting  closed,  he 
found  peace  in  believing,  and  saw,  with  joy 
unspeakable,  his  name  enrolled  among  the 
chosen  of  the  Lord. 

But  these  Christians  w^ere  not  always  so  for- 
tunate. One  night,  the  light  horse  surrounded 
their  place  of  worship.  Closing  every  avenue 
of  escape,  the  captain  ordered  them  to  be  taken 
out  one  by  one,  and  receive  the  punishment 
prescribed  by  the  law.  With  serene  faces  and 
patient  submission,  first  the  men  and  then  the 
women,  underwent  the  cruel  torture  of  the 
lash.  When  Obadiah  Holmes  received  similar 
treatment  from  the  New  England  Puritans  as 
a  remedy  for  his  Baptist  faith,  he  said,  as  the 
sheriff  loosened  his  hands  from  the  stake  to 
which  he  had  been  bound,  "You  have  struck 
me  with  roses."  So  these  savages,  made  new 
men  in  Christ,  took  joyfully  the  stripes  that 
were  laid  upon  them  with  unsparing  hand. 
The  executioners  could  not  withstand  the  in- 
fluence of  those  faces,  radiant  with  holy  joy; 


166  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

and  one  after  another  let  fall  the  cruel  thong 
and  surrendered  it  into  the  hands  of  another, 
The  captain  at  first  shamed  the  cowardly  weak- 
ness of  his  men  and  bade  them  lay  on  the  lash  ; 
but  when  the  women  came  and  stood  unflinch- 
ing the  fearful  ordeal,  a  feeling  not  of  pity, 
but  of  awe,  overwhelmed  him.  The  Roman 
centurion,  as  he  saw  the  darkened  heaven  and 
heard  the  death  cry  of  the  crucified  One,  ex- 
claimed :  ''Surely  this  was  the  Son  of  God." 
So,  as  he  looked  upon  these  women  bearing 
their  torture  not  only  bravely,  but  with  smiling 
faces  and  words  of  thanksgiving  to  Him  who 
had  redeemed  them,  this  plumed  and  painted 
savage  felt  the  conviction  pierce  his  heart  like 
an  arrow,  'These  are  God's  people."  There 
remained  scarcely  strength  of  arm  or  purpose 
in  all  that  fierce  band  of  braves,  to  feebly  finish 
the  execution  of  the  law. 

Next  day  the  captain  of  the  light  horse  re- 
signed his  position,  and  several  of  his  men  fol- 
lowed his  example.  "We  cannot  whip  these 
people  for  praying  and  loving  Jesus,"  said 
they ;  "we  would  rather  be  whipped  ourselves 
than  to  whip  these  women.     We  cannot  do  it." 

The  angry  chiefs  sought  others  more  savage 
and  determined  to  supply  their  place  and  en- 
force the  law  with  rigid  exactness.  But  it 
was  in  vain.     The  first  time  they  captured  the 


THE    HOME    MISSION    STATESMAN  167 

Christians,  they  found  it  impossible  to  inflict 
the  full  punishment  upon  them.  Their  deter- 
mination was  broken  and  their  hands  were 
paralyzed  by  the  meek  submission  of  those  who 
rejoiced  that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  suf- 
fer for  their  Lord.  They  came  back  to  the 
chiefs  of  the  nation  and  said,  "There  are  no 
other  people  like  these  Christians.  We  can- 
not whip  them  any  more.  The  Great  Spirit 
claims  them.  They  are  his  children ;  we  must 
let  them  alone." 

]\Iore  and  more  feeble  became  the  efforts  to 
suppress  the  religion  of  the  white  man  and  the 
bolder  became  the  disciples,  until  they  scarcely 
attempted  to  conceal  their  times  and  places  of 
worship.  The  best  families  of  the  nation  had 
members  who  were  Christians.  At  length,  it 
was  announced  that  Chilly  Mcintosh,  one  of 
the  most  wealthy,  powerful,  and  popular  chiefs 
of  the  tribe,  had  become  a  Christian.  •  Under 
the  widespread  excitement,  the  National  Coun- 
cil met  and  repealed  the  odious  law.  Chris- 
tianity had  won. 

Before  the  meeting  of  the  council,  Joseph 
Islands  had  moved  into  a  new  house  which  he 
had  just  completed.  xA.s  soon  as  he  heard  that 
the  law  was  repealed,  he  mioved  back  into  his 
old  home  and  gave  the  new  one  for  a  place 


168  ISAAC    TAYLOR    TICHENOR 

of  worship.  This  was  the  first  house  of  wor- 
ship in  the  Creek  Nation. 

Thus  a  great  and  effectual  door  was  opened 
to  the  gospel.  Joseph  Islands,  who  was  a 
man  of  property,  exhausted  his  estate  and  gave 
his  life  to  the  evangelization  of  his  people. 
Not  in  vain  have  been  his  labors.  There  is 
today  a  Baptist  church  for  every  thousand  of 
population  in  the  Creek  Nation,  and  more  than 
a  dozen  native  preachers  break  the  bread  of 
life  to  these  churches. 

Somewhere,  we  know  not  where,  on  the 
wide  prairies,  thirty  years  ago,  sorrowful 
hearts  laid  to  rest  all  of  Joseph  Islands  that 
could  die.  A  nation  gathered  at  his  grave. 
No  stone  marks  the  spot  where  he  sleeps.  His 
monument  is  in  his  works :  and  long  as  those 
prairies  shall  spread  their  green  bosoms  to  the 
sun,  so  long  will  the  loving  and  laborious  life 
of  Joseph  Islands  influence  his  people  towards 
Christ  and  God  and  heaven. 

Servant  of  God,  well  done, 
Rest  from  thy  loved  employ ; 

The  battle's  fought,  the  victory  won 
Enter  thy  Master's  joy. 


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